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Upper Missouri style bird quill knife sheath, 1840
This artwork is part of a private collection and is not available for purchase. It serves as an educational benchmark for historical accuracy. To see items currently available for acquisition, please visit our Available Works section
Maker: Lukáš Navrátil
Materials: Buffalo rawhide, wet-scraped brain-tanned hide, bird quills, porcupine quills, tin cones, antique pony beads, completely sewn with animal sinew.
Made in: 2019
Description: A knife sheath in the style of the Yankton Sioux. It is embroidered with bird quills, a technique that appears quite rarely. It can typically be distinguished by unique colors and a different structure that sets it apart from classic porcupine quillwork. This is because traditional dyes react differently to bird quills than to porcupine quills. This is most notably seen in the teal/blue-green color of the quills, which is almost never found in porcupine quillwork. According to experts, the bird quill embroidery technique is typical of the Upper Missouri region, and feathers from gulls or other waterfowl were used. It appears that bird quillwork is an ancient technique, appearing primarily on artifacts made before 1850.