Painted Buffalo Robe
date: label: Accession Date
content: 6 Dec 1949
label: Collection Date
content: 1887
name: label: Collector
content: Mr. Copley Amory
label: Donor Name
content: Copley Amory
notes: label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "BORDER LINEAR IN BLUE OUTLINE, YELLOW AND RED ORANGE. CENTER PORTION LARGE STANDING FIGURE OF AN INDIAN CARRYING GUN, WEARING FEATHER BONNET AND BUFFALO ROBE PAINTED IN BLUE OUTLINE, COLORED IN YELLOW, BROWN AND RED ORANGE. THIS IS OF GENERAL TYPE DISCUSSED IN J.C. EWERS PLAINS INDIAN PAINTING (1939) PP. 65-66 AS PROBABLY "HALF-BREED" [SIC; I.E. MIXED-BLOOD] OR ACCULTURATED INDIAN WORKMANSHIP. MR. AMORY STATED THAT HE WAS GIVEN THIS ROBE WHEN HE VISITED FORT WASHAKIE, WYOMING, WITH OWEN WISTER IN 1887. HE THOUGHT IT WAS GIVEN HIM BY TYGEE, FAMOUS SHOSHONI INDIAN SCOUT."
label: Notes
content: This buffalo hide has a narrow cloth strip following the border of the painted surface, perhaps to facilitate attachment of a cloth liner for use as a carriage robe. The cloth strip was sewn on after the painting of the decorative border, which it overlaps. The central figure of a man also overlaps the border in places. The border has no precedent in Plains painting, but bears some resemblance to borders on a group of undocumented robes conventionally assumed to be commercial Chippewa products (e.g. E380671). The central figure does not stylistically resemble any Native art, but does have some general resemblance to the images in the McKenney Hall Portrait Gallery, and other published illustrations of the 19th century. It seems likely that this object was modified over time by multiple hands, both Native and non-Native. Notes by Candace Greene 2022.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 3 Feb 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Fort Washakie, Wind River Reservation / Fremont County, Wyoming, United States, North America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Shoshone (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 185017
label: USNM Number
content: E387284-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Artwork
physicalDescription: label: Unknown - Object
content: 193 cm
label: Unknown - Object
content: 213 cm