Tipi and woman in red-wool dress
Ethnographic Notes
The lightning motif on the tipi is almost certainly related to similar designs in other drawings, such as Plates 66 & 64, which are strongly associated with the Oglala Lakota warrior and spiritual leader Black Road (Canku Sapa---Buechel, 1970: 120; & 452). The portrait, here, may be intended as his wife, called Brule Woman (Sicangu Win---Buechel, 1970: 453; & 587). She wears a red-wool dress, and leather belt decorated with designs of brass tacks. The artist's depiction of hands, always shown as a closed fist, with four or five knuckles, is a “signature” detail not found in any other ledger drawings.