“Two separate dances are depicted in this drawing. The upper tier of figures represents participants in the Grass Dance (see Nº8 and Nº30) and the lower tier, participants in the dance of the Buffalo Society. The first figure on the left in the lower tier is dressed in a buffalo head with a skirt and a buffalo tail. Two other figures carry a bow and arrows and a hand drum. The last figure is the female attendant.

In the upper tier, the figures are all dressed in Grass Dance costumes. Two of them carry a sword and a pipe which are part of the dance ceremony. All the figures wear roach headdresses and most wear otterskin turbans with trailers. The seated drummer playing a horizontal drum appears at the left. A number of the dancers exhibit elaborate painted or tattooed markings on their bodies and wear various animal tails attached to their knees. The Mandan had a very formalized system of recording war honors which involved the painting of various designs and the wearing of specific animal tails. That is probably what is represented in this drawing. Tattooing and painting were also considered a very specialized art form.” (p.29)

William S. Wierzbowski and Helen M. Mangelsdorf in Images of a Vanished Life: Plains Indian Drawing from the Collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1985.