Pair of folded bags "parflèche"

Description

raw hide (cattle or buffalo), bright colours, each of the four flaps painted with identical geometric motifs, drilled holes/leather straps, slightly dam., backsides blotched/dirty.
These envelope-shaped bags were created by all tribes on the Plains. They often moved troughout their territory and needed to safely move their belongings. The containers were always made in pairs, most likely because they hung on both sides of a horse. They were used to store household items, clothing or dried meat and “pemmican”, a concentrated mixture of fat and dried meet. They were traditionally made by women.
The Plains Indians had an abundant source of hides in the buffalo they hunted, but, as they were nomadic, they had little opportunity to tan the skins. Raw hide was prepared by cleaning and dehairing the skin and then by stretching it to dry in the sun. This process created a stiff but durable leather that was used for many items.
The term “parflèche” was created by French traders, deriving from the French words “parer”, meaning “parry” or “defend,” and “flèche”, meaning “arrow", because the hide was tough enough to deflect an arrow.
The “parflèche” bag was assembled by folding the two ends of a long, rectangular piece of rawhide over to meet and form a kind of envelope. The two flaps were thonged together. The large flat surface of the “parfleche” bag was invariably painted with colourful, basically geometric, abstract designs. A sharpened porous buffalo bone served as an effective paint brush.