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Woman's Dress

ca. 1865
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
A female artist ornamented this dress with tiny Venetian glass beads called seed beads. Like most bead workers in the mid-1800s, she chose seed beads over larger pony beads, which were commonly used in earlier periods. She created narrow bands for the yoke’s rainbowlike border and experimented with new colors afforded by the smaller beads. She selected a background hue known as greasy yellow instead of the light blue traditionally found on Lakota dresses.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Woman's Dress
  • Date: ca. 1865
  • Geography: United States, South Dakota
  • Culture: Lakota (Teton Sioux)
  • Medium: Native tanned leather, glass beads, tin cones
  • Dimensions: Length: 61 1/2 in. (156.2 cm)
    Width: 53 3/4 in. (136.5 cm)
  • Classification: Hide-Costumes
  • Credit Line: National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (159288.000)
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing