Cleveland Museum of Art

Pipe or Tobacco Bag

Date

c. 1870

Medium

Native-tanned hide, yellow pigment, glass beads, red trade cloth, tin cones, sinew thread

Culture

Native North America, Plains, Tsitsistas (Cheyenne)

Department

Textiles

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The shape of this bag indicates it was made to hold tobacco and one of the pipes that played a paramount role in the lives of Plains nations. Smoking is a means of prayer—the smoke carries thanks and entreaties into the other-than-human realm—and pipes were lit to seek protection and guidance on new endeavors, during alliance and dispute negotiations, to mark life’s milestones, and in many other situations. By the late 1800s, when this example was made, such bags were a standard element of prestigious men’s formal dress regalia. Glass and metal beads were imported from Europe.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.