Club and Quirt

View Larger Image

Download

jpeg(61.23 kb)

For information on accessing a high resolution version of this image suitable for print reproduction please visit the Rights and Reproduction page.

Artist

Karl Bodmer

Birth and death dates

1809 - 1893

Artist Nationality

Swiss

Title

Club and Quirt

Dimensions

8 1/8 × 12 3/4 in. (20.6 × 32.4 cm)

Medium

Graphite on paper

Institution

Joslyn Art Museum

Credit Line

Gift of the Enron Art Foundation

Accession Number

1986.49.316

Rights (i.e. copyright information)

Joslyn Art Museum

Photographer credit

Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Commentary

The implement pictured at the left appears identical to a two-foot-long Gros Ventre club in the Maximilian collection at the Linden-Museum; it has a spiral wooden handle and an elk antler head shaped and incised like a bird's head. The notation above the club indicates color (reddish-brown, blackish-brown). The identification below of "Monitarri" (Hidatsa) has been corrected to Assiniboine. Maximilian remarked in the diaries that he also saw elk antler war clubs among the Gros Ventre. The notations associated with the quirt depicted at the right describe the original as being made of polished, whitish-yellow antler with red painted incising. A watercolor version appears in Image 1986.49.312. The quirt was also pictured in Tableau 2 of the aquatint atlas.

References in Journal

A Few Words Regarding the Blackfoot Indians

Labels:

study

Approximate Depicted Location:

Fort McKenzie, Montana