Awl Case (c. 1890): Art, History and Details

Awl Case (c. 1890) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Plains women hung small bags often decorated with beads from their belts to keep their most important tools at hand. This one contained an awl, a shaft of bone, stone, or metal that tapered to a point and had many functions. One of the most important was to sew animal hides into garments: the awl was used to punch small holes in the hide, and then a thread made of animal sinew was laced through the holes and pulled tight.

Object facts

• Title: Awl Case
• Date: c. 1890
• Culture: Native North America, Plains, Gaigwu (Kiowa)
• Type: Leather
• Technique: Native-tanned hide, glass beads, cotton thread
• Dimensions: Overall: 33.7 cm (13 1/4 in.)
• Collection: AA - Native North America
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1934.241

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. Katherine Allen Perry

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.