Object Story: Quillwork box

Object Story: Quillwork box - Body

Quillwork box

The Mi'kmaq people have been in North America many thousands of years and have interacted with Europeans for hundreds of years. They live in what are now known as eastern Maine and the Atlantic provinces of Canada. This box, made by a Mi'kmaq artist in the 1800s, is a testament to Mi'kmaq cultural traditions persisting over time. The porcupine quills are a traditional material, but the lidded box shape is similar to European boxes from the 1800s. This box shows how Mi'kmaq artists adapted to the tastes and influences of Europeans and Americans, and how Mi'kmaq artists incorporated new styles into their art-making practices.

In the 1800s, as some Americans had enough money and time to travel, tourism became a more popular pastime. To become a part of this tourism economy, the Mi’kmaq began adapting their crafts to sell to tourists. They began applying their skills in quillwork crafts to make new items, like these boxes, that would appeal to these tourists. When historians see a box like this, they know that it probably would not have been made before the era of tourism. It probably would not have been made for the Mi’kmaq people to use for themselves. Instead it was made to appeal to another culture: white American or European tourists with a bit of extra money to spend on a souvenir. 

The box is made primarily out of only a few materials: birch tree bark, porcupine quills, spruce roots, and the dyes used to add color to the quills. These materials were favorites of the Mi’kmaq and were used long before the arrival of Europeans. In the nineteenth century, when this box was made, these materials were readily available in areas where Mi’kmaq people lived.

Quillwork box

eye icon plus icon target icon info icon Angled view of a small colorful box with a lid, decorated with lengths of porcupine quills forming a geometric design on the lid and chevron patterns on sides.

Unrecorded artist (Mi'kmaq), Quillwork box, Maine or Nova Scotia, Canada, ca. 1850, wood, birchbark, porcupine quills, and aniline dye. Gift of Jonathan and Karin Fielding, 2016.25.27

Porcupine Quill Exterior

Porcupines lived in only some of the Mi’kmaq territories. Quills from different parts of the porcupine were useful for different parts of the box. Most of the quills that make up the patterns came from the back of the porcupine’s neck down to its tail. To fasten the quills and other parts of the boxes together, quillwork artists used the stringy roots of spruce trees as thread. After soaking in water, the roots are pulled apart into thin strands.

Birch Bark Interior

Birch trees were important to many aspects of Mi’kmaq life. The trees were the preferred material for many types of wares like dishes and containers as well as canoes and wigwam covers. There are no logs or branches used. Instead, there are smooth, flat strips of wood. To make these strips, Mi’kmaq artists separate long pieces of bark from logs of birch wood. Heat from a fire or warm weather conditions at certain times of the year help the bark peel away easily from the core of the wood.

Natural and Artificial Dyes

Dyes provide the color for the quills. Originally Mi’kmaq quillworkers made dye out of natural materials like roots and plants. However, in the middle of the 1800s, right around the time this box was probably made, Mi’kmaq artists started to use some of the new, artificial dyes that were being manufactured commercially.

Lidded Box Shape

The shape is based on a traditional European lidded box that would have been popular among Victorian-era tourists more than 150 years ago. Mi’kmaq artists also made other forms in this era that appealed to tourists, such as wall pockets, cigar cases, letter holders, and even quillwork panels set into the seats and backs of fashionable chairs.

Questions for Discussion

  • How might we describe the importance of this object based on when, where, or by whom it was made? How do these ideas change our understanding?
  • What are some of the ways that the cultural exchange between Indigenous groups and European colonists influenced artmaking?
  • What economic influences might have changed how this box was made?
  • A souvenir is something that helps you to remember a place that you've visited. What kinds of things do you think make the best souvenirs? Why?
  • How might knowing that an object is a souvenir change what we think about the object?

Suggested Activities

Compare and contrast cultural uses of artwork from different times and places. For example:

  • Analyze how art reflects changing times, traditions, resources, and cultural uses.
  • Through observation, infer information about time, place, and culture in which a work of art was created.
  • Search for things in your own home that show a blend of cultural or family influences.