Pipe Bag, Lakota, Great Plains Region (United States), Pipe bag, about 1885, Leather, glass beads, porcupine quills and feathers, Bequest of Dorothy Record Bauman 74.63.15 More about the Pipe Bag

The curving floral designs on the shoulder strap of this Bandolier Bag are quite different from the geometric designs on the pipe bag made by a Lakota artist of the Great Plains region. Although the shape of the two bags is similar, Woodlands people were inspired by the organic shapes of the plants, vines and flowers they observed all around them. The designs used by the Lakota people are geometric; that is straight-edged, repeated shapes that may be symbolic of, but do not mimic, nature.