Sioux Fully Beaded Doctor’s Bag [R]

C4126D-bag.jpg

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Artist Unknown
  • Category: Beadwork
  • Origin: Sioux
  • Medium: medical bag, Venetian beads
  • Size: 11-½” x 5-½” x 7” height
  • Item # C4126D
  • Price No Longer Available

When the government put medical facilities on Indian Reservations in the late 1800s throughout the country, medical personnel were sometimes feared or ignored and other times greatly respected and appreciated.  It became customary for patients to make a gift for a doctor in appreciation for his assistance in their care.

This beaded bag might make one think it was a lady’s purse, but Victorian ladies did not carry purses as large as this.  They carried very small ones. A bag like this was beaded as a gift to a doctor, not for use but as a token of appreciation.  It could be displayed and not used as a medical bag.  Considering the excellent condition, it was most likely displayed proudly in a doctor's office or home.

The bag was fully beaded on all sides and on the bottom.  The beads are Venetian and they were sinew sewn on the bag in the one-thread stitch technique.  Inside the red outlined designs, there are faceted beads that are metallic. The colors of the beads are dark blue, red, yellow, light blue, brown, and green.  It is estimated that the beaded medical bag dates to circa 1900, plus or minus a decade.


Condition: this Sioux Fully Beaded Doctor's Bag is in excellent condition.  The latching mechanism works perfectly

Provenance: from the collection of a family from Santa Fe

Recommended Reading: Quill and Beadwork of the Western Sioux by Carrie Lyford

Close up view of the beadwork designs.

Artist Unknown
  • Category: Beadwork
  • Origin: Sioux
  • Medium: medical bag, Venetian beads
  • Size: 11-½” x 5-½” x 7” height
  • Item # C4126D
  • Price No Longer Available

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