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Cradle board

Bannock cradle board
ca. 1900–1920
Fort Hall Reservation, Idaho
Wood, hide, glass and bone beads, cotton thread, brass sequins and jingles, cowrie shells, velveteen
121 x 37 x 15 cm
Collected by William Wildschut
15/2400

This hardwood and buckskin cradle has a heavily decorated back in lazy-stitch beadwork, done in concentric half-circles resembling the more common contour, or outlining, techniques. The colors and overall design show styles common to the Apsalooka, or Crow, people of the Plains; the Nez Perce, Cayuse, Flathead, and others of the Plateau; and the Bannock and Shoshone of the Great Basin. Living between the two other regions, both the Bannock and Shoshone tribes were involved in transmitting and interpreting the style, perhaps beginning as early as the 1850s. An umbilical cord bag hangs at the side of the cradle.

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