Rustic Indian Medicine Man DEER HORN BREAST PLATE 0547
This Rustic Indian Medicine Man Deer Horn Breast Plate is an incredible artifact. This Breast Plate was made by hand using large genuine Deer Horns. The deer horns give this artifact plenty of natural character with respect to the animal spirits. Shining trade beads and hand made glass beads give this Breast Plate an incredible artistic look. This is a true one of a kind artifact. Artificial sinew ribbons tie off at the back. Tight fitting breastplates made of bone were used by Indians for protection in heated battles. This breast plate artifact is approximately 21-1/2" long and approximately 13" wide. We got this one on a big close, so we don't know who made it.A true status symbol, bone breastplates were in wide use as a type of armor by the early 19th Century. Today they are part of many ceremonial events. Long, hollow hair pipe dates far earlier than the pre-Columbian period for Indian ornamental dress. Its popularity grew from Eastern tribes use of shells, bone and stone. Eventually Colonial traders introduced glass and copper to necklace design in the 17th and 18th Centuries. Plains Indians used some hair pipe design for earrings – bone was preferred over shell. By the 19th Century larger, elaborate breastplates were made for ceremonial occasions. The objects man makes are called artifacts, and every artifact, whether it is beautiful or ugly, crude or refined, utilitarian or ceremonial, is a reflection and product of man's skills, his techniques and his arts. Artifacts reflect the ideas, the concepts, and the knowledge acquired or learned a member of a tribe. Members of a particular tribe use certain techniques, and create a particular style because that is their tradition - a replica of yester year. |