A fringed bag, constructed out of commercial leather, which is decorated with sewn seed beads on the recto side. Floating tin the center of the bag is a quatrefoil motif which is likely composed of two abstracted multi-colored floral motifs. The periphery of the bag has blue, striped, crimson semicircles. The bottom seam of the bag is accented with circles which sit atop triangles. All of these geometrics are outlined in white. The bottom seam of the bag is lined with native tanned fringe.

Dispatch bags were prevalent in the Southern Plains. The Kiowa are today celebrated for producing some of the most iconic and beautiful extant examples. Constructed out of traded commercial leather, these bags are structurally reminiscent of cases carried by enlisted US troops who carried mail. However, indigenous dispatch bags are in fact all-purpose bags, used to house a variety of different items and suspended from belts or the pommels of saddles.

21.5" long and 7.5" wide

#51198