I find quill work pretty incredible (for a long time I did not believe it was actual porcupine quills that were used) but usually the pieces that cross my path (and that I can afford) are in pretty rough shape. Indeed, while porcupine quilling is an ancient Native American art, practiced especially among East Coast and Plains tribes, the difficulty of working with the quills as well as their fragility have made it fairly rare today, largely replaced by beadwork when seed beads became widely available. However, the crafting of birchbark quill boxes never completely died out, and pieces like this continue to be made particularly by members of the Ojibwe (Chippewa) and Micmac tribes.
I am pretty certain this one is Ojibwe and really love its relative simplicity, with all white quills but for the orange star on the lid wrapped with yellow at the very center. The bottom edge of the lid features a thin, stitched birch wood rim, while the bottom half features a much wider band of birch bark, and the interior is lined in birch bark as well.
It is in very good condition, with no quills missing just a couple broken tips, minor. Very bright and crisp and lovely. 3 1/8"in diameter x 1 7/8" t.
