Tobacco bag with pipe-stem case

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The narrow sleeve on this tobacco bag held a pipe’s wood stem. A woman embellished it with stylized feathers and a wavy line of beadwork, perhaps to suggest the pipe’s role in transmitting sacred smoke and prayer. A single Thunderbird, a powerful spirt, is represented near the opening; hourglass motifs—common in Plains painting, quillwork, and bead-embroidered designs—are featured on the body; and a finely twisted, two-ply fringe hangs from the bottom.

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