Description
Many Plains peoples hold lavishly quilled or beaded cradles in high esteem—they bestow spiritual benefits on the infant and prestige and honor on the family and the maker, usually a female relative. Indeed, today and in the past, creating such a cradle is often regarded as equal to counting coup, the ultimate act of male bravery in which a warrior touches an enemy with a stick known as a coup stick. This cradle was held in the arms; others have wooden frames that can be propped against a support, such as a sofa or a tree, to ease the baby’s socialization into the community.
Provenance
[]
Accession Number
1984.1047
Medium
Native-tanned hide, cotton cloth, glass beads, metal beads, brass bell, sinew thread, cotton thread
Dimensions
Overall: 24.1 x 25.4 x 85.7 cm (9 1/2 x 10 x 33 3/4 in.)
Classification
Leather
Credit Line
Bequest of David S. McMillan