Museum Collections
Luce Center
"Smoking the Shield" (Camanchee)
Title
"Smoking the Shield" (Camanchee)
Date
1866-68
Medium
Graphite and black ink on prepared card
Dimensions
Overall: 18 3/8 x 24 1/8 in. ( 46.7 x 61.3 cm )
Description
Ethnography. Studies of Native Americans: a Rite of Passage for a young warrior who must kill a buffalo and make a shield from the skin; inside a circle of shields, a young man stands over a skin stretched on the ground over a smoky fire to harden the leather, while warriors dance around him with bows, tomahawks and shields and sing to purify and instill the power of protection in the shield
Credit Line
Purchased by the Society
Object Number
1872.23.176
Marks
inscriptions: Signed
Inscriptions
Signed at lower right inside image in black ink: "Geo. Catlin"; inscribed at upper center outside image in black ink over graphite: "Pl. 176. / 'Smoking the Shield.' (Camanchee)"
Provenance
The artist's collection; Francis Putnam Catlin, the artist's brother, serving as agent to George Henry Moore, acting on behalf of N-YHS
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.




