Producer unknown to us
Beaded headband
Americas, Canada, Quebec or Newfoundland/Labrador
Mid-20th century
Leather, silk thread, beadwork
Eva Lips (Ethnologist) acquired this headband between 1934 and 1959
Purchased by Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden from Elisabeth Malüg on December 6, 1989
70057
This is an Innu (ethnonym: Naskapi) headdress. Light and dark blue Rocailles glass beads threaded on a string are applied lengthwise to a light leather strap in a continuous “wave” design on patterned fabric. The spaces in between are filled with dark blue beads. Dark blue silk thread trims the edges.
This item may have been collected during Julius and Eva Lips’ exile (1935–1947), or during Eva Lips’ research trip in 1959. Her trip to Canada in 1959 was one of the scarce opportunities to do field research in Western countries at the time – and it was easier to obtain a travel permit at the time than after the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The ethnographic objects collected on this trip, thus, present a rarity in the museum’s collection history during the GDR.
Frank Usbeck