pair of beaded moccasins

unrecorded Ka’igwu (Kiowa) artist, artist

pair of beaded moccasins, late 1800s–1996

Where object was made: Great Plains, United States

Material/technique: buckskin; rawhide; beading; pigment

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Length (Height x Width x Length): a 7 x 9.5 x 42 cm length does include fringe
Object Height/Width/Length (Height x Width x Length): 2 3/4 x 3 3/4 x 16 9/16 in
Object Height/Width/Length (Height x Width x Length): b 7 x 8.5 x 42.5 cm length does include fringe
Object Height/Width/Length (Height x Width x Length): 2 3/4 x 3 3/4 x 16 3/4 in

Credit line: Source unknown

Accession number: 2007.3799.a,b

Not on display

Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Images

Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Passages: Persistent Visions of a Native Place," Sep-2011, Nancy Mahaney
This pair of men’s moccasins possesses the typical southern plains fringe on heel, intended to erase one’s steps in the dirt while walking. The Kiowa were the only tribe in the Plains to attach hard leather soles to the uppers inside out and it made a turned or downward seam.
The Kiowa historically used spare beading such as the narrow lines of delicate beadwork that runs in bars down the center seam of the narrow tongue. The colors of the faceted-glass seed beads also reflect Kiowa style preference for multiple colors in red, dark blue, dark green, lilac pink, light blue, and white with a white beaded piquet along the ankle flap.