PEM Model Anishinaabe Canoe with Painted Paddles

The Peabody Essex Museum has a model canoe made by an unknown Anishinaabe (Chippewa/Ojibwa) artist. The model and its accompanying figurines and paddles date to 1823-1825 once again featuring the dominant colours of red and black. One paddle features a black blade with the red shaft. The other features a red blade and black paint at the end of the pole-shaped grip.

Anishinaabe (Chippewa/Ojibwa) artist

Model canoe, 1823-1825

Birchbark, wood, paint, pitch

Great Lakes, North America

L: 22 3/4 in, W: 6 in, D: 5 7/8 in (L: 57.8 cm, W: 15.2 cm)

Gift of Colonel Enos Cutler, 1850, 1850

E3760

SPECIAL COLLECTION

East India Marine Society Collection

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DESCRIPTION
This is a birch bark model canoe with red wooden thwarts and gunwales. There is a painted black band beneath the gunwales, and it has pitched and painted seams. On either side of the bow is a red painted design with a black oculus. Two carved and painted figures holding paddles sit inside.