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COURTING, TWO COUPLES, Women in Red Blanket and 2nd Phase Navajo Chief's Blanket; WAR, WARRIOR on Blue Horse Carries Saber

Ethnographic Notes

66 The page is rotated left to fit the page lengthwise (portrait format), similarly to plates 33, 34, and 36. Two couples stand in a row facing left: man, woman; man, woman. The first man on the right is in a blue blanket with a strip in the middle containing a four-quartered medicine wheel design; he has on black and white leggings with triangular design (lightning power or "Sacred Mountain" design) and black breech clout with white selvage. His visible braid is wrapped entirely in red cloth. He wears a hairpipe breastplate that covers the top part of his chest. The second figure, a woman, wears a second phase Navajo chief blanket of blue-and-white stripes with red markings. She has one braid visible down her shoulder. She wears blue leggings, each decorated with small German silver conchos or buttons. Three bands show at the bottom of her leggings. Her dress panel ends, showing under the blanket, are dark trade cloth (pencil fill) with edging of white. The next figure, a man, wears an orange blanket with a beaded medicine wheel strip. His hair is wrapped in red trade cloth. His German silver hairplate ornament is attached to his scalplock, along with a single black-tipped eagle feather from an immature golden eagle. A red cloth streamer trails off the end of the hairplate ornament (silver disks are attached to the strip of red cloth). He wears leggings with black-and-white triangular lightning or �Sacred Mountain� design common on war regalia. One black breech clout flap with white selvage is visible in the front. The fourth figure from the right wears a blue blanket with a strip in the middle containing the four-quartered medicine wheel design; he has on white leggings with German silver or brass buttons or small conchos. Black bands edge her leggings. The dress panel ends showing beneath the blanket are dark trade cloth (depicted in lead pencil). 67 A warrior rides the identical blue horse in previous plates (9, 10, 26, 30-32) from right to left across the page. He wears the same single-trail eagle headdress, edged with red cloth. He wears a red cloth shirt, cut full (Lanford, 2003: 159), with no armbands. His blue leggings have a single white stripe on the visible leg (see plate 9 for further discussion). Both flaps of his blue Stroud cloth breech clout show against the horse. The figure carries a saber with two streamers (see plate 13 for further discussion). The blue horse�s tail is tied up with a red trade cloth, and the reins attach to a silver or German silver headstall. The blue horse has a white face and white hooves. 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: 35
Page No: 66-67
Media: Lead pencil outlines, details, and fill; blue and orange crayon; red water color; 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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