Skip to main content
ProvenanceA.B. Welch, Standing Rock Reservation, South Dakota; Mandan Indian Shriners of El Zagel Temple, Fargo, South Dakota; David Wooley; Toby Herbst, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyAdvertisement for Toby Herbst. AMERICAN INDIAN ART MAGAZINE Vol.20, no.2 (Spring 1995):26.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.129.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 170.
Attributed to
Jaw
(b. 1850, Oglala Lakota (Teton Sioux))
Drum
Datec. 1920
DimensionsOverall: 2 3/8 × 15 1/2 in. (6 × 39.4 cm)
Object numberT0405
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextJaw was a noted Sioux warrior who excelled in horse stealing. One particularly acclaimed nighttime exploit resulted in the taking of 70 horses. Jaw recounted that “I did not waken nor kill any of the Crows; I just took their horses. No Sioux ever took more horses than that in one night.” Jaw is believed to have painted a portrait of Bear Eagle (Mahto Wambdi) on this drum. Bear Eagle leans forward over the neck of his horse to count coup with his whip against an enemy who has struck him with an arrow. The painting may document the time Bear Eagle led a war party against the Crow, an image that Jaw drew on other occasions. The warrior wears a long sash attached with eagle feathers, a military insignia of the Miwatani Society. A newly inducted Miwatani member also presented the society with the best horse in his herd. The sash identifies Bear Eagle as belonging to that organization of warriors whose members vowed to save the life of a compatriot in exchange for their own.
ProvenanceA.B. Welch, Standing Rock Reservation, South Dakota; Mandan Indian Shriners of El Zagel Temple, Fargo, South Dakota; David Wooley; Toby Herbst, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyAdvertisement for Toby Herbst. AMERICAN INDIAN ART MAGAZINE Vol.20, no.2 (Spring 1995):26.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.129.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 170.
On View
Not on view
