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Exhibition History"Treasures from the Thaw Collection," Wheelwright Museum of American Indian Art. Santa Fe, NM, May 1, 2000 - December 31, 2000.
ProvenanceA midwestern museum; Christopher Selser, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyAdvertisement for Christopher Selser. American Indian Art Magazine Vol.18, no.2 (Spring 1993):100.
Vincent, Gilbert T. Masterpieces of American Indian Art. New York: Harry Abrams, 1995, p.33.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.150.
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. 153.
Culture
Lakota (Teton Sioux)
Dance Stick
Datec. 1880
DimensionsOverall: 38 × 4 1/4 in. (96.5 × 10.8 cm)
Object numberT0055
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextWooden horse effigies were carried in victory dances by successful horse-raiders and by the members of Horse Societies in their ceremonials on the northern Plains. (c.f. Ewers 1986, figs. 1301-32; West 1978, figs.9, 10, 15, 22) Often they represented a favorite horse killed in battle. Although these effigies varied considerably in detail, batons terminating in a horse head were particularly popular among the Lakota. An age-yellowed label mistakenly identifies this horse dance stick as a "Lakota war club with scalplock." Decorations include iron and brass tacks, horsehair attached between the leather ears and hot file marks on one side of the handle. The beaded red cloth medallion at the neck covers a worn human scalp which may have been hanging from the lower jaw before this was broken off at a later date and trimmed with a knife. Pictographic war records often show such pendants attached to the jaw of a horse. The maker cut out the underside of the jaw and painted it red. The use of horse dance sticks may be derived from the earlier use of animal effigy sticks in warrior society ceremonials. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)Exhibition History"Treasures from the Thaw Collection," Wheelwright Museum of American Indian Art. Santa Fe, NM, May 1, 2000 - December 31, 2000.
ProvenanceA midwestern museum; Christopher Selser, Santa Fe, New Mexico
BibliographyAdvertisement for Christopher Selser. American Indian Art Magazine Vol.18, no.2 (Spring 1993):100.
Vincent, Gilbert T. Masterpieces of American Indian Art. New York: Harry Abrams, 1995, p.33.
Vincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.150.
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. 153.
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