black cloth with crimson red cloth border, decorated on either side of the 'neck break' with appliqué white plastic buttons and sequins of repeating arrow, four-leafed flower and copper motifs, with harpoons in the corner.
black and red cloth, sequins, white plastic and abalone button appliqué, 48 x 65.5 in (121.9 x 166.4 cm)
unsigned.

LOT 41
ESTIMATE: $1,000 — $1,500

In the 1986 exhibition catalogue, Robes of Power: Totem Poles on Cloth, Dora Cook described the impetus for the red borders, explaining that "the red borders on the button blanket originate from the days when our people wore blankets woven from yellow and red cedar bark. The borders were lined with sea otter fur and worn by nobility" [1]. Adorning the borders of the present blanket are appliqué designs of four-leafed flowers that, according to Cook, "represent sacred cycles of four and circles of life; they have often been mistaken for a dogwood flower" [2].

1. Doreen Jensen and Polly Sargen, Robes of Power: Totem Poles on Cloth, (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1986), p. 30.
2. Ibid.

1. Doreen Jensen and Polly Sargen, "Robes of Power: Totem Poles on Cloth", (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1986), p. 30.
2. Ibid.