Dig It - 6/3/25
Well Fellow Seekers, I had to ask myself what makes a piece of Plains Indian beadwork like this knife sheath great. All the Plains beadwork from this period used the same glass beads made in Venice, Italy. The “art” has to be in the beadworker’s choice of colors and patterns. Now some of these choices of colors and patterns were distinct to certain tribal groups and their inherent tribal preferences for what was proper and visually pleasing. For example, the Lakota tended to prefer the colors red, white, blue, and yellow. Furthermore, in the period of 1870 to 1880, when this knife sheath was made, they also preferred simple, big, and bold patterns.
The beadworker who made this knife sheath was probably a woman. For the upper section, she chose the traditional simple, bold box patterns, rendered in blue and yellow on a white background, which was typical of Lakota work. Now for the curved lower sections, she chose a slightly different approach and colors, with the addition of pink beads in stepped pyramids outlined in blue beads. This was more typical of Cheyenne beadwork. Next she used white-heart-red beads, with their magical translucent quality, to make up a knife blade shape with three blue and yellow crosses or stars running down the center. A border of blue triangles encloses the far edge of the sheath. It is these little touches and the addition of the less traditional color pink that make this piece exceptional and a work of art. Lakota knife sheath, buffalo hide, circa 1880. Dig it. -Lonesome