Covered quillwork birchbark box

Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) artist

20th century

Birchbark, quills, thread, plant fibers

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A round, lidded birchbark box is decorated with quillwork in red, green, and cream colors forming a floral motif on the lid and stitching along the edges. The box has a natural, earthy appearance. A round, lidded birchbark box is decorated with quillwork in red, green, and cream colors forming a floral motif on the lid and stitching along the edges. The box has a natural, earthy appearance. The Anishinaabe woman artist who created this intricately adorned and finely woven basket utilized locally harvested porcupine quills, birchbark, and sweetgrass. Artists often incorporated abstraction into their work, layering quills in complex patterns and forms that reveal both technical mastery and artistic ingenuity. For more than two hundred years, Anishinaabe women sold many of their birchbark containers and baskets to non-Native peo