Black Steer Robe
date: label: Accession Date
content: 6 Dec 1892
name: label: Collector
content: Dr. Z. T. Daniel
label: Donor Name
content: Bureau Of American Ethnology
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "COPY EX. HISTORICALLY PAINTED. W.C. EXPOSITION. FOR DETAILED EXPLANATION SEE FOLDER "SKIN PAINTINGS" DIV. OF ETHNOLOGY. LOANED TO THE ART GALLERIES, UNIV. OF CALIF. 3-21-1974. RETURNED MAY 22, 1974. OLD EXHIBIT LABEL: ROBE - MADE FROM THE SKIN OF A BLACK BULL, DRESSED IN ABORIGINAL FASHION BY MEANS OF SKIN SCRAPERS. SINCE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE BUFFALO, THE INDIAN WOMEN OF MONTANA AND THE NORTHERN BOUNDARY HAVE SUBSTITUTED THE SKINS OF CATTLE AND DRESS THEM IN THE SAME MANNER. PAINTED BY A WARRIOR. COLLECTED BY Z. T. DANIEL." FIGURATIVE DECORATION. THE FOLDER REFERRED TO IS NOW IN THE NATIONAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL ARCHIVES. IT IDENTIFIES THE ARTIST AS SHARP, AND THE PRIMARY PERSON DEPICTED AS SHORTIE BLACKFEET. JOHN EWERS ESTABLISHED THAT THIS WAS THE SAME PERSON AS CHIEF SHORTIE [A.K.A. SHORTY] WHITE GRASS (C.1827/8-1926) OF THE BUFFALO CHIP BAND OF THE PIEGAN ("A CENTURY AND A HALF OF BLACKFEET PICTURE WRITING" AMERICAN INDIAN ART MAGAZINE 8.3., 1983.) NOTES ADDED BY C. GREENE 1/4/1999. SEE PROCESSING LAB ACCESSION FILE FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
label: Notes
content: Pictographic scenes of warfare, horse raiding, and bear hunting painted on a steer hide. See: National Anthropological Archives, Records of the Dept. of Anthropology, Series 17: Division of Ethnology, Manuscript and Pamphlet File, Box 79, Folder 835, Skin Painting, for "Explanation of illustration on Black Steer Robe, as related by "Sharp," a Piegan Indian who painted it in the Spring of 1892," by Z. T. Daniel. A transcription of this is attached to this database record.
label: Notes
content: Reference: pp. 71 - 75 in Dempsey, L. James. 2007. Blackfoot war art: pictographs of the reservation period, 1880-2000. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
label: Notes
content: See also E358276, a shirt that belonged to Shorty White Grass.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 20 Oct 2022
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Not Given, Montana, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Blackfoot (Niitsitapi, Siksikaitsitapi), Piegan (Piikani)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 026525
label: USNM Number
content: E165449-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Hide Painting
physicalDescription: label: Unknown - Object
content: 213 cm
label: Unknown - Object
content: 305 cm