Parfleche flat case

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This flat rawhide case, called a parfleche, was used to transport important belongings from one camp to the next. Its surface provides a luminous ground for the painted bold, colorful geometric shapes and delicate, black and brown graphic elements. The case would be hung from the pommel of a saddle, with the long fringe registering the movements of both horse and wind. Plains women also made parfleche cylinders, envelopes, and boxes; the term originated with French fur traders.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art