This deerskin bag is part of the collection of Eskimo and North American specimens accumulated by the Arctic Explorer, Dr John Rae. The bag was probably designed by Dr Rae and made by a Cree Indian craftswoman.
The dressed deerskin is embroidered in chain-stitch with naturalistic floral sprays, including, above the four pendant flaps, a thistle motif. The borders and fringe are beaded.
Rae (1813-93), an Orcadian, attributed his success as an explorer to his appreciation of the ways of the native peoples. He had a great affinity with the North American Indian and Inuit peoples that he met on his journeys.
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