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Couple sitting | Warrior with trailing eagle feather bonnet leading horse

Ethnographic Notes

Right: This is the only depiction of what may be a senior warrior in this collection. The artist and all of his age mates were too young to have had the opportunity to go to war, before the beginning of the reservation period. This man wears an eagle feather headdress with a beaded headband and a single trailer. Some of the feathers have been dyed red, and are arranged in alternating panels of red and white. A woven wool or silk sash is used as a belt to secure the trailer around the man's waist. Left: A second date with "Woman Warrior", who is the young lady depicted on Page 10. We are given a nearer view of her family's tipi, which is actually depicted on Page 9. This is a very rare exception to the usual practice in ledger art, where the action depicted does not cross the spine of the book, from one page to another. The heavy trail of many footprints between the tipi and the couple indicates that they strolled back and forth several times, before seating themselves a short distance away from the lodge. We may suspect that her family learned of the earlier meeting, and is now keeping her on a shorter rein. The artist is not pleased by this change in their fortunes.

Another meeting, possibly with the same young lady, is shown on Page 9. We recognize the artist from the same, circular hair decoration and eagle feather seen on Page 10. This time, however, he is accompanied by a brother or cousin---the anonymous figure .with the dark breech cloth seated at the left. It was a common Cheyenne custom to "double date", either the woman or man bringing along one or several siblings, cousins or chums. The same convention is seen on pages 12, 15, 20, 58 & 63-64.


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Provenance

Ralph T. Coe Foundation, Coe-Cheyenne Ledger (NA 1154); Brant Mackley Gallery, Hummelstown, PA; Southern Cheye...

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Document Info
Plate No: 40
Page No: 76-77
Media: Pencil and colored pencil
Dimensions: Small commercial notebook: 8.25 x 4.825 inches - cover, 5.625 x 4.75 inches - pages
Custodian
Ralph T. Coe Foundation, Santa Fe, New Mexico
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