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ProvenancePublic Sale, Chillicothe, Missouri, ca.1980; Robert Dunham, Cowgill, Missouri; 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.110.
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. 118.
Culture
Yanktonai Sioux
Club
Datec. 1880
DimensionsOverall: 6 1/2 × 8 3/8 × 25 1/4 in. (16.5 × 21.3 × 64.1 cm)
Object numberT0056
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextThe carving of a human face in the ball of warclubs is a feature that has a long history in the traditions of the Eastern Woodlands and their extension into the Prairie region. The image probably represents a spirit with a face has been reduced to its most elemental details. The forward pointing interruption in the long curve of the flat handle is typical for early warclubs of Siouan tribes in the Prairie region. The two holes served to suspend feathers and a wrist loop. This club is similar enough in its overall appearance to one owned by the Yanktonai Sioux warrior First Hail to postulate that it is by the same maker (c.f. Ewers 1986, p.134). Like the First Hail example this club has the remnants of a scalp at the back of the head. By the 1830s, after the introduction of firearms and metal tomahawks, these old warclubs had become status symbols, primarily intended to be carried in dances. In the late 19th century, human head effigy warclubs were quite popular among the Yanktonai Sioux. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)ProvenancePublic Sale, Chillicothe, Missouri, ca.1980; Robert Dunham, Cowgill, Missouri; 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.110.
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. 118.
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