A Sioux pictorial beaded tobacco bag

Very finely beaded, depicting a distinctive warrior on horseback, on one side engaged in combat, on the other confronting three women, pairs of American flags rising above the panels, cross and box motifs up the neck, quill-wrapped slats at the bottom, the fringe now lacking.
length 21in

Exhibited
Museum of Contemporary Crafts, New York, NY, January 22 - March 21, 1976
Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI, April 4 - August 1, 1976
Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, WI, August 13 - September 26, 1976
Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, TX, October 8 - November 21, 1976
The Heard Museum, Phoenix, AZ, December 5, 1976 - January 16, 1977

The original exhibition display tag accompanies this lot

Illustrated
Pohrt, Richard A., The American Indian // The American Flag, 1976, Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI, p.124, fig.158, the descriptive text accompanying the image suggesting that the horseman is "probably 'counting coup'" in the scene with the women