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COURTING, TWO COUPLES, Women in 2nd Phase Navajo Chief's Blankets; WAR, WARRIOR on Gray Horse Carries a Gun

Ethnographic Notes

64 The page is rotated left 45 degrees to fit on the page lengthwise (�portrait� format). Two couples stand together; all wear blankets. They stand in the same configuration as plate 25: one couple, to the right, oversees the other couple, who stand facing each other. The three figures to the right are in profile and face left. Only the last figure, the second woman, faces right. The first man is dressed simply in a solid, dark blanket. His braid is extended with hair ties. He wears leggings with beaded black-and-white block war designs (Lanford, 2003: 163, fig. 15). He breechclout flaps, from matching dark (pencil) trade cloth like his blanket, reach the ground. Both women wear identical second-phase Navajo blankets and yellow leggings�probably buckskin painted with yellow ochre. They both have stripes around their ankles�bands in the fabric (Hudson's Bay blanket) or painted. The first woman has blue trade cloth dress panel edges showing under her blanket. The second man wears an orange blanket. His visible braid down his shoulder is wrapped in red trade cloth. He wears a trailing German silver hairplate ornament attached to his scalp lock. His leggings have the similar black-and-white block design of the first man. His one visible clout flap is dark trade cloth (pencil), and it drags the ground behind him. The last figure, the woman, is dressed identically to the first except her dress panel edge (one shows) is dark trade cloth (pencil). See plate 1 for further discussion of COURTING conventions. 65 A warrior on a gray horse moves across the page from right to left. The warrior on the horse wears a long German silver hairplate ornament tied to his scalplock that trails below the flanks of the horse. One immature golden eagle feather is attached to the first hairplate. He wears a blue cloth shirt, and a white blanket is wrapped around his waist. His leggings are dark (pencil) with one white stripe up the visible leg (see plate 9 for discussion). Both flaps of his blue breech cloth trail below the horse flanks. He carries a short-stocked, red carbine in his outstretched hand, pointed up. The dark horse (lead pencil) has contrasting white hooves and a white face and darker ears. Its reins are attached to a silver or German silver headstall. Its tail is doubled over or clubbed with red cloth. See Plate 9 for further discussion of this type of warrior portrait.


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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: 34
Page No: 64-65
Media: Lead pencil outlines, details, and fill; red, yellow and blue crayon; red watercolor; Lead pencil outlines, details, and fill; blue crayon; red watercolor
Dimensions: 3.25 x 5 in (8.5 x 12.75 cm)
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