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Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Náakw gwéil
Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Náakw gwéil

Dateca. 1880
Maker Native American Tlingit
Label TextOctopus bags offer a puzzle of influences. Vertical bags made of hide are recorded from the 17th century, but how and why the tentacles or fingers evolved is not known. This example was collected in Sitka, Alaska in 1869 and is in remarkably fine condition. While such bags originated as functional pouches, they now add to the impressive attire for ceremonial appearances. Slung over a shoulder, such bags are beaded only on one side to feature abstracted foliate patterns that are always symmetrically aligned.
Object number91.1.122
Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, A Bead Quiz, July 1, 2008 - July 1, 2009. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Mood Indigo: Textiles from Around the World, Apr. 9 - Oct. 9, 2016.Published ReferencesSmetzer, Megan A. Painful Beauty: Tlingit Women, Beadwork, and the Art of Reselience. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2021; p. 77, reproduced fig. 2.9.
Credit LineGift of John H. Hauberg
Dimensions18 1/2 x 10 in. (46.99 x 25.4 cm)
MediumCommercial plain weave wool cloth, imported beads, yarn, natural and synthetic dyes
Photo: Scott Leen
Danielle Morsette
2021
Object number: 2021.41.1
Native American, Tlingit, Klukwan (Tlákw.aan)
ca. 1890
Object number: 91.1.54
Kudas' Dance Shirt
Native American
ca. 1890
Object number: 91.1.77
Panel from a tunic: Figures and Crosses
Egyptian
8th-10th century
Object number: 46.108
Photo: Paul Macapia
Native American
ca.1880
Object number: 83.229
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Javanese
19th century
Object number: 40.24
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
Javanese
19th century
Object number: 37.35
Huipil
Guatemalan
20th century
Object number: 81.17.1390
'Tsep'
Native American, Kwakwaka'wakw
ca. 1920
Object number: 91.1.9