Penn Museum Blog | Lady Franklyn’s Quilled Mi’kmaq Box – Penn Museum

The original Museum inventory card identified this box as “Huron;” in 1991, that was corrected to reflect its Micmac—or, in the more culturally accurate spelling, Mi’kmaq—origins. Birch trees are abundant in both Huron and Mi’kmaq territory, but, in terms of artistry, 19th century Huron and Mi’kmaq decorative art shows a prominent divergence. The Mi’kmaq are well-known for their quillwork, while the Huron are known for embroidery that utilizes dyed moose hair.[2] Huron birchbark objects (e.g. trays and small cases) tend to utilize motifs from nature rather than the geometric designs present on this Mi’kmaq box. Such is the nature of the medium; porcupine quills are more suitable for geometric designs utilizing angular lines than for delicate floral motifs.[3]

The box in the Penn Museum collection is constructed from two layers of white birch bark, joined with spruce root, secured to a wooden base that is fitted inside the quilled exterior. The exterior is covered with dense decoration of brightly colored red, purple, yellow, turquoise, and black dyed porcupine quills, arranged in geometric designs that include chevrons on the sides, and an eight-pointed star on the top. These intricate geometric patterns are consistent with Mi’kmaq quill boxes in the collections of other museums, particularly a set of boxes in the collection of the McCord Museum in Quebec.[4] These similarities include: the oval shape, the multi-colored chevron pattern surrounding the sides of the box, and the vertical natural-colored pieces of bark interspersed with white horizontal weaving. The top of each lid varies between these two samples; while both the McCord Museum and Penn Museum boxes are decorated with a traditional eight-pointed star, each central symbol is supplemented by its own collection of geometric motifs.