Parfleche Bag- Soft Rawhide

Handcrafted Soft Rawhide Parfleche Bag

This Parfleche Bag – Soft Rawhide features a piece of rawhide that the crafter half‑tanned to create a softer texture. The crafter hand‑painted a Northern Plains–style design in pink, red, yellow and purple on both the front and back. The crafter also added hand cut fringe ranging from 5 inches to 31 inches along the sides, giving the piece a bold, dynamic look. The bag measures approximately 15 inches wide by 11 inches tall.

One of a Kind.

A parfleche (pronounced par‑flesh) is a traditional Native American container made from rawhide. The word comes from the French parer (“to parry or shield”) and flèche (“arrow”), referring to the way the heavy hide could deflect arrows. Rawhide also served as a durable material for shields. To create a parfleche, makers—especially those from the Great Plains region—used untanned animal hide, often buffalo, and decorated the surface with intricate geometric designs painted with natural pigments from plants and minerals. These versatile containers held food, clothing, personal belongings, and important cultural items, and they played an essential role in the mobile lifestyle of many Plains communities, as people could easily carry them on horseback during travel and hunting expeditions.

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