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ANIMALS, BUFFALO: Female Buffalo and Calf; COURTING: Two Women in Elk Teeth Dresses Ride a Pinto Stallion

Ethnographic Notes

20 A large buffalo cow and calf are depicted moving from right to left across the page. The adult female's horns, split hooves, tail, and fringed beard and forelegs are detailed. The eye is an unpainted circle. The calf is drawn of all lead pencil; the calfk's legs are extended in motion. This is one of many depictions of animal mothers and their young. This is one of eight nearly identical drawings in this ledger with a buffalo female and calf: Plates 11-18. 21, reversed. This plate is very similar to PILA plate 11, page 19, where two women wearing identical dresses with elk teeth trim and red sleeves ride together on a horse. The bodices of their dresses are dark here (lead pencil), not white. They have the same red blanket with beaded hourglass strip, a design suggesting courtship (See Powers 1980: 40-7). Here, however, the two close friends or female relatives ride a pinto stallion with red markings. The horse is richly outfitted with a nickel-silver headstall (see a similar one in Peterson, 1983: 293, illustration 1). Candace Greene discusses the �range of situations� that suggest implications of courtship context (1996: 29; see Plate 8 discussion). See plate 1 for further discussion of courtship conventions. Media: lead pencil outline, details, and fill; red watercolor


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Drawn in 1879 by one or more Northern Cheyenne prisoners in the Dodge City jail held for trial after breaking ...

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Document Info
Plate No: 12
Page No: 20-21
Media: Lead pencil outlines, details, and fill, black ink; lead pencil outline, details, and fill, red watercolor
Dimensions: 3.25 x 5 in (8.5 x 12.75 cm)
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