Robe

Robe possibly from a buffalo, tanned on both sides, painted in yellow and with geometrical decoration of concentrically arranged triangles, rhomboids and circles. Animal hides had different uses by the tribes of the Great Plains, such as creating clothes or as covers for their tipis. Specifically, this one is the “box and border” type, defined by its geometrical decoration which symbolically refers to the representation of the internal organs of buffaloes. This type of leather was exclusively made and used as protective garments by women. On the other hand, leather with elements related to fighting or hunting deeds were decorated and used by male members of the clan. To create these garments, the leather was stretched and exposed to the sun using stakes. Then the residues of flesh were removed with bone or metal scrapers and the leather was fixed to a frame to clean the other side until it became rough leather. In order to obtain a flexible and soft product, a maceration process was necessary. The leather was covered with a mixture of animal entrails and egg white and subjected to a saturation process with an infusion of water and herbs. The process was finished when they smoothed and scrubbed the leather against a hard rock and white chalk in order to give it more flexibility. This piece formed part of a collection that came from the Archbishop of Toledo’s former library, later called Provincial and generally known as Borbón-Lorenzana, which became part of the National Archaeological Museum in 1869.