This lustrously beaded shot pouch was likely accompanied by matching leggings and a powder horn, for which only the straps survive. The ensemble would have been a mark of distinction for the owner, perhaps a dog driver or trapper, who plied the trails and rivers linking trading posts across northern Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba. The organic floral motifs are influenced by the popular patterns on Chinese ceramics, English calicoes, and chintzes from India, which circulated widely through Rupert’s Land. For the Indigenous woman who beaded this ensemble, the flowers and berries represent sacred medicines and symbols of life and renewal, suggesting a strategic appropriation of globally circulating fashions and materials.

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