Dancing Shoes
Arts of the Americas
These Native American objects represent just a few of the items made in the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, primarily for sale to dealers and collectors to satisfy the growing market for indigenous products. Finely coiled baskets like the example by the Maidu weaver Mary Kea’a’ala Azbill were in great demand, as were Zuni Kachina dolls. The desire for Eskimo objects such as the ivory pipe engraved with a whale-hunting scene was accelerated by the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897. To appeal to non-Native patrons, Native artists invented new designs using trade materials such as the glass beads forming the embroidered floral arrangement on the northeastern puzzle bag (so named for the way its pieces fold together to keep it closed). Other artists used traditional materials but tailored designs to non-Native aesthetics, as seen in the porcupine-quill box. The Navajo quickly adapted to the Spanish introduction of silver coins and silver mining in the seventeenth century, embellishing their traditional wrist guards with hammered silver. Some artists retained both traditional materials and designs but produced greater quantities of popular items such as the Plains owl pipe bowl made from Catlinite (red pipestone).
MEDIUM
Deer hide, pigments, sinew, porcupine quill, horse hair, wool
DATES
late 19th century
DIMENSIONS
10 3/16 x 4 5/16 x 7 5/16 in. (25.9 x 11 x 18.6 cm)
(show scale)
ACCESSION NUMBER
05.588.7175a-b
CREDIT LINE
Museum Expedition 1905, Museum Collection Fund
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
The blue color of these high top shoes indicates they may have been worn by Kachina Dancers. The red fringe was colored by dye made from alder bark or rubbed iron oxide. Calcium carbonate might have created the blue color. A band of porcupine quills covers the heels.
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Hopi Pueblo. Dancing Shoes, late 19th century. Deer hide, pigments, sinew, porcupine quill, horse hair, wool, 10 3/16 x 4 5/16 x 7 5/16 in. (25.9 x 11 x 18.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1905, Museum Collection Fund, 05.588.7175a-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 05.588.7175a-b_left_PS22.jpg)
IMAGE
left, 05.588.7175a-b_left_PS22.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2024
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a
Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply.
Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online
application form (charges apply).
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the
United States Library of Congress,
Cornell University,
Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and
Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our
blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact
copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and
we welcome any additional information you might have.
![Kachina Doll (Pakwen [Clown])](https://d1lfxha3ugu3d4.cloudfront.net/images/opencollection/objects/size2_sq/CUR.03.325.4606_front.jpg)
![Kachina Doll (Omau [Cloud])](https://d1lfxha3ugu3d4.cloudfront.net/images/opencollection/objects/size2_sq/CUR.04.297.5550_front.jpg)
![Kachina Doll (Tassap [Navajo])](https://d1lfxha3ugu3d4.cloudfront.net/images/opencollection/objects/size2_sq/04.297.5578_back_PS11.jpg)
