Among the Penobscot of south-central Maine, cape collars and cuffs were worn by men as regalia worn at dances and various important ceremonies such as the installation of chiefs. Probably based on decorated coats worn in the 1700s and early 1800s, the earliest collars were made in three parts (a yoke and two front panels) and were ornamented with white seed beads in double-curve motifs on red or black fabrics, edged with silk; the cuffs were similarly ornamented. Later collars were one-piece with beaded designs of double-curve and/or floral and foliate motifs. This stunning set of collar and cuffs embodies the Penobscot design tradition at its fullest and finest. The complex and richly varied beadwork is executed on a rich red background, and the set is beautifully preserved.

References: For a Penobscot beaded collar see Ralph T. Coe, Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art, (Kansas City: Nelson Gallery of Art, 1977), cat. 85; for a hood see cat. 86; for a belt see cat. 90. For similar Maliseet examples see Stephen J. Augustine, Mi’kmaq & Maliseet Cultural Ancestral Material, (Gatineau: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 2005), pp. 131, 132.