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Details
A CHEYENNE SILVER PECTORAL
triangular-shaped with scalloped bottom edge and three circular pendants suspended below, constructed of German silver, the front decorated with a hand-stamped quatrefoil motif in the center, and with a lightly etched buffalo bull to the left and a hound to the right, the reverse, with an engraved quatrefoil and at left, a lightly etched Indian woman facing an Indian man on horseback, all with Plains embellishments, and two abstract elements to the right, suspended below a string of large rounded white beads and dark green bugle beads
Width: 6½ in. (16.5 cm.)
triangular-shaped with scalloped bottom edge and three circular pendants suspended below, constructed of German silver, the front decorated with a hand-stamped quatrefoil motif in the center, and with a lightly etched buffalo bull to the left and a hound to the right, the reverse, with an engraved quatrefoil and at left, a lightly etched Indian woman facing an Indian man on horseback, all with Plains embellishments, and two abstract elements to the right, suspended below a string of large rounded white beads and dark green bugle beads
Width: 6½ in. (16.5 cm.)
Provenance
Colonel Henry Inman, author and United States Army officer, collected this pectoral, possibly at the legendary Battle of Beecher's Island in Eastern Colorado, where Cheyenne Indians engaged U.S. Army forces in 1868.
Further details
Most pectorals are essentially triangular in shape, scalloped along the two short sides, and are supplied with a number of crescent or circular pendants below. The majority were cut from nickel silver (popularly called "German silver"), as the slight traces of verdigris evident on this example attest. Pectorals are commonly seen in Plains Indian drawings on muslin and in ledger books, often attached to the bottom of hairpipe breastplates. Otherwise, they were suspended around the neck, on a strand of beads. The white beads on this example are referred to as "barley corn" beads, a type traded especially to Plains and Montane tribes during mid-19th century. They are combined here with translucent dark green "bugle" beads on an original buckskin thong.
A commanding scene etched on the reverse of this example underscores the historic and artistic significance of this individual pectoral. A standing female figure faces a mounted warrior. Her hair hangs loose, she wears a belt with a pendant reaching the ground. The warrior appears ready to strike out with his bow to count coup on the woman. A long set of hairplates trails from his head. Significant to this pectoral, the warrior is wearing a short hairpipe breastplate with a pectoral of this very type attached. From his clothing and overall aspect, the warrior strongly reads as being Cheyenne, or possibly Arapaho. In addition, as seen in innumerable Plains Indian ledger drawings and historic photographs, it can be concluded that pectorals perhaps found the greatest favor with the Cheyenne and Arapaho. However, the Sioux, Kiowa, and others wore them as well. Nonetheless, the fact that Henry Inman participated in the Beecher Island fight, where Cheyenne Dog Soldiers composed the main body of Indian combatants, weighs significantly for the Cheyenne tribal attribution for this pectoral.
Benson L. Lanford
March 1, 2002
A commanding scene etched on the reverse of this example underscores the historic and artistic significance of this individual pectoral. A standing female figure faces a mounted warrior. Her hair hangs loose, she wears a belt with a pendant reaching the ground. The warrior appears ready to strike out with his bow to count coup on the woman. A long set of hairplates trails from his head. Significant to this pectoral, the warrior is wearing a short hairpipe breastplate with a pectoral of this very type attached. From his clothing and overall aspect, the warrior strongly reads as being Cheyenne, or possibly Arapaho. In addition, as seen in innumerable Plains Indian ledger drawings and historic photographs, it can be concluded that pectorals perhaps found the greatest favor with the Cheyenne and Arapaho. However, the Sioux, Kiowa, and others wore them as well. Nonetheless, the fact that Henry Inman participated in the Beecher Island fight, where Cheyenne Dog Soldiers composed the main body of Indian combatants, weighs significantly for the Cheyenne tribal attribution for this pectoral.
Benson L. Lanford
March 1, 2002