Robe with Mythic Bird
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.A great mythic bird composed of geometric motifs appears on this famous robe. The precisely balanced and rhythmic composition is constructed from elongated shapes and lines, together with unpainted elements and cross-hatching. During the early 1700s, a French trader, missionary, or military official likely obtained the garment from one of the tribes of the Illinois Confederacy, probably at a trading outpost on the Mississippi River near present-day Saint Louis. It is one of the oldest surviving painted hides from the period.
Artwork Details
- Title: Robe with Mythic Bird
- Date: 1700–1740
- Geography: United States, mid-Mississippi River Basin, probably Illinois Confederacy
- Culture: Eastern Plains
- Medium: Native-tanned leather, pigment
- Dimensions: Length: 42 3/8 in. (107.6 cm)
Width: 47 7/8 in. (121.6 cm) - Classification: Leather
- Credit Line: Musée du quai Branly, Paris (71.1878.32.134)
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing