Images(5)

match safe

Object NameBeaded Match Safe

Made FromGlass Beads, Cardboard, Cotton

Dateabout 1917

TechniqueTooled, pulled, cut, fire polished, strung, sewn, mounted

SizeOverall L: 21 cm, W: 13.4 cm, D: 2.9 cm

Accession Number96.4.67

Credit LineGift of the Stillman Family

Curatorial Area(s)

Modern

Exhibitions

Past | Present: Expanding the Stories of Glass

Life on a String: 35 Centuries of the Glass Bead

Interpretive Notes

Web Text

Raised beadwork is a characteristic style of Hodinöhsö:ni beaded objects. Many beads are strung together on a single thread before the group is sewn to the cloth. This technique creates a design that projects from the surface. Birds, like the one at the top of this match safe, were a common image. This match safe was made to hang on a wall in someone’s home, probably near a kerosene lamp. One pocket safely stored unused matches, while the other held used matches.

Place Made

United States, NY, possibly Chautauqua

Physical DescriptionBeaded Match Safe. Transparent yellowish green, opaque white, transparent bluish red, colorless, multi colored glass beads, cardboard, cotton; tooled, pulled, cut, fire polished, strung, sewn, mounted. Cardboard base in the shape of a shield with scalloped edges, to which a cardboard pocket with two compartments is mounted. The cardboard is covered (glued?) with cotton fabric of natural color and sewn along the edges. A double border of green beads, sewn to the fabric, outlines the shield and the pocket. Suspended from the bottom edge are three beaded tassels. Each compartment of the pocket is decorated with a stylized sheaf of wheat (feathers?) in opaque white and transparent bluish red beads. Beneath the pocket is the beaded date "1917" and a stylized spray to the right. Above the pocket is a bird in profile acing left, made of opaque white beads with a bluish red beak and a blue eye. The field to its right and left is decorated with a stylized spray. Two colorless beads are sewn beneath the beak.
Provenance

Provenance Remark

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