Northwest Coast Octopus Bag, Circa 1840

Columbia River, WA

Circa 1840 | Stroud, Glass Beads, Fabric | Item 1574

This is a great and early Northwest Coast octopus bag. The bag is made mostly of blue stroud cloth (wool) and red stroud cloth (wool) used for the design elements. The bag is trimmed in white, pony beads around all of its edges. The ends of the 5 legs have larger cobalt, faceted glass beads and red yarns as fringe. The design on the front is an abstraction in red that looks like a face, mostly due to the two red circles at the top corners. This red cloth is outlined in finer, white beads. The back side has fine, plied yarn (cotton?) creating two, floating designs. The bottom one is like a plant. The upper design resembles the front design, like an abstracted face. There are several areas where the stroud cloth has been restored and they are mostly obvious. Aside from that, this is a rare bag, and sublime in its design and effect.