Sjerp

Fingerwoven belt; Western Great Lakes; early 19th century Wool, glass beads; 136 x 10 cm. RMV 865-8; auction purchase from the G.A. Wilken estate, Leiden, 1892 The hole-and-slot heddle is a flat wooden board with alternating holes and slots, which allows an easy formation of sheds in the weaving of narrow bands. In probably the second half of the eighteenth century it was introduced from France to the North American North¬east and from Spain to the Southwest and Southeast probably in the second half of the eighteenth century. In the Northeast it was used for the production of textiles previously made by fingerweaving, but also promoted the development of woven beadwork. In this technique designs were produced by threading white glass beads on the weft of the textile according to need. While fingerweaving favored beadwork designs based on slanted lines, hole-and-slot-made textiles most frequently show the beads aligned parallel to the sides, often serving to outline the color areas produced by differently colored warps. In the present example, however, the white beadwork in part imitates patterns typical for fingerweaving, with which hole-and-slot heddle weaving coexisted for several decades. Similar fingerwoven and hole-and-slot sashes, belts, and garters were also made and used by the French-Canadian peasant population of Québec and in the early nineteenth century specifically produced for the fur trade. The exact relationship between these indigenous and European traditions and the role played in this connection by the Métis still needs to be explored. As a result, in many cases it is presently impossible to distinguish between Native American, Métis, and Québecois products. Like in so many other examples, the information associated with this belt is not very helpful for a better understanding of its history and significance. It was acquired in 1882 at an auction and had previously been part of the collection of George A. Wilken, a Dutch colonial officer in Indonesia and professor of ethnology at Leiden University. How the belt and one other North American item came into Wilken’s possession is unknown. Wilken was born in 1847, more than a generation after the manufacture of the belt, on Sulawesi and is not known to have ever visited North America. Hovens (introduction) suggests that Wilken visited North America in 1880, and might have purchased the piece as an antiquity. The occurrence of the hole-and-slot heddle also in Indonesia and especially in Sulawesi may be an unlikely explanation for Wilken’s possible interest in this Native American artifact. Christian Feest Marius Barbeau, Assomption Sash; Department of Mines, National Museum of Canada; Ottawa, 1937. William C. Sturtevant, The Hole-and-Slot Heddle; in: Irene Emery and Patricia Fiske, eds., Ethnographic Textiles of the Western Hemisphere:325-355; The Textile Museum; Washington DC, 1966. In de traditionele basiskleding van de mannen uit noordoostelijk deel van de Verengide Staten waren gordels en sjerpen belangrijke accessoires. Ze gedragen om de lendendoek van gelooide hertenhuid om de middel te binden. Hiernaast werden gordels gedragen om kleine tasjes om de middel te bevestigen. Ook waren gordels en sjerpen een belangrijke handelsartikelen.