With the onset of the Reservation Period (1880-1920), Plateau groups increasingly adopted Anglo equipment for everyday use. Female artists often modified and decorated these items for their own purposes. From this, a new genre of ornamentation evolved.

Cartridge pouches constructed from commercial leather such as this were readily available in the closing decades of the 19th century, in large part due to the influx of breach loading rifles into the American West. Bags such as this would have been threaded through a belt and worn around the hips.

On the flap, a quatrefoil design - an abstracted floral motif - is beaded in classic colors. While perhaps flashier colors would have undoubtedly been available at the time that this was made, the artists chose restraint, electing to instead use colors which can typically be on Plateau beadwork from decades prior.

5.5” tall and 6” wide

#51139