Plains Beadwork

In most historical Plains cultures, a new mother’s relatives made a cradle for the baby. The form allowed the child to be carried on the mother’s back, suspended from her saddle, or propped against the tipi. This example is distinctive in its hybrid style and design. Suggestive of Kiowa beadwork in the elaborate colors and composition, the overall construction and technical details point to a Lakota origin. The inclusion of the flag of the United States—along with Native motifs of the spiritual Thunderbird, horses, and complex geometric forms—dates the cradle to the early reservation period, when the U.S. government prescribed July Fourth celebrations in place of the outlawed Lakota Sundance.