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ProvenanceGeorge Theofiles, Baltimore, Maryland, by tradition, the robe descended in the family of a '49er; Don Spaulding, Pound Ridge, New York; Mr. and Mrs. Paul Rabut, Westport, Connecticut; Jeffrey Cook, Trumbull, Connecticut; George Terasaki, New York City
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.156.
Novak, Barbara. Voyages of the Self. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. plate 3.3.
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. 177.
Culture
Mandan, Arikara, Hidatsa
Buffalo Robe
Date1845
MediumBuffalo hide, pigments
DimensionsOverall: 103 × 86 in. (261.6 × 218.4 cm)
Object numberT0050
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextThe circular motif painted on this buffalo robe was particularly popular among Siouan-speaking tribes. Many such robes were painted and traded by the Lakota, but some of the earliest examples originated from the Assiniboine, Omaha, Mandan, and Hidatsa. (c.f. Ewers 1939, pls.10 & 11; Brasser 1976, fig.36; Hail 1980, fig.10; Horse Capture 1993, pp.13,95 & 97). Robes decorated with this design were painted by women, but worn by men who had achieved prestige in warfare. The concentric circles consist of conventional elements representing the black-tipped eagle feathers; as a whole they represent the feathered "war-bonnet," but also the sun in its role as the Great Warrior. Corner decorations are common on these robes, though the use of miniature versions of the central design is rather unusual and seems to be restricted to robes from the Missouri River Village tribes of the 1840s. Size marking was used to outline all details, creating the white lines on well-used robes. Thin white lines indicate the hair wisps at the tips of eagle feathers, but in this case their unusually crooked delineation suggests an additional symbolic reference to sacred power radiating from the design. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)ProvenanceGeorge Theofiles, Baltimore, Maryland, by tradition, the robe descended in the family of a '49er; Don Spaulding, Pound Ridge, New York; Mr. and Mrs. Paul Rabut, Westport, Connecticut; Jeffrey Cook, Trumbull, Connecticut; George Terasaki, New York City
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.156.
Novak, Barbara. Voyages of the Self. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. plate 3.3.
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. 177.
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