cradleboard

unrecorded Cheyenne artist, artist

cradleboard, late 1800s–1925

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: wood; ribbon; wire; cloth; metal; beads; buckskin; beading; stamping

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 124 x 30.5 x 28 cm
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 48 13/16 x 12 x 11 in

Credit line: Source unknown

Accession number: 2007.2311

Not on display

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Even the joyous occasion of motherhood could not halt the semi-nomadic communities of the Great Plains. Babies and young children were swaddled in practical yet sophisticated cradleboards and strapped to their mothers’ backs, allowing for ease of mobility while the mothers performed their chores and duties. Safely confined in a constant embrace, children absorbed the restless world about them while remaining physically close to their mothers, fostering an intimate bond. Because cradleboards were indispensable to active mothers yet time-consuming to craft, they constituted objects of wealth often loaned or given as gifts. Elaborately beaded cradleboards such as this one were masterful labors of love.