[NATIVE AMERICAN] c. 1890s Plains and Apache Beaded Hide Bags, Group of Four

Four Beaded Hide Bags and Cases. Plains and Apache, circa 1890s.

A varied group of four small hide bags and cases, each with a distinct arrangement of glass beadwork. The largest is an elongated pouch with rounded lower corners and cut-hide fringe along its sides and base. Blue rectangular beadwork alternates with exposed hide in a checker-like pattern, crossed by diagonal passages of green, yellow, and red. The reverse carries a single four-pointed device assembled from differently colored triangular elements.

A smaller, rounded pouch is centered by a green five-pointed star enclosing a red-and-white detail. Alternating green, white, and red beadwork follows its perimeter inside a short hide fringe, while a lightly beaded loop accompanies the opening. A circular case has concentric bands of black, red, green, and blue beads, with a narrow ornamental edging and largely plain hide reverse. The fourth piece combines a rounded compartment with an elongated tab, decorated with a blue-and-red cross-shaped device and repeating green and ochre geometric elements.

Together, the pieces illustrate several approaches to ornamenting small personal containers. Dense beadwork covers the circular case, while the other examples preserve substantial areas of hide between individual motifs. The different relationships between worked and unworked surfaces are as characteristic of their designs as the colors themselves.

By the late nineteenth century, traded glass beads had long been incorporated into Plains and Apache needlework. Makers adapted them to local preferences and individual compositions, applying elaborate decoration to objects small enough to carry among everyday belongings. The group is catalogued broadly as Plains and Apache; the available information does not assign each piece to a specific community.