This
#WorkoftheWeek is "Cradleboard" by Kiowa people, or possibly Comanche people, Native American.
Constructed by women to transport their infants, cradleboards were considered family heirlooms in early nomadic Native American cultures. This full-sized, lattice-style cradleboard was probably made sometime between 1850 and 1875. It is constructed from buffalo hide on a wood and rawhide framework, with mattress ticking lining the interior.
Cradleboards, along with tipis and rawhide bags, bear witness to the nomadic nature of Early Native American cultures of the Great Plains. The cradleboard is considered an ancient object type. But the practice of adding ornate, beaded embellishment only began once the Kiowa and other peoples of the Plains had been confined to reservations, effectively ending their nomadic lifestyle. By the late 1800s, women on Plains reservations were abandoning cradleboards altogether. In the last few decades, there has been a revival of cradle making among the Kiowa and the Comanche.
Credit: Kiowa people, or possibly Comanche people, "Cradleboard," (Native American, about 1850-1870). Animal hide, textile, glass beads, tin. Museum purchase with funds provided by the 2004 Museum Dinner and Ball and general acquisition funds, 2005.103
#WomensHistoryMonth #birminghammuseumofart