Piegan Blackfeet Pipe Lighter

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Artist

Karl Bodmer

Birth and death dates

1809 - 1893

Artist Nationality

Swiss

Title

Piegan Blackfeet Pipe Lighter

Date

August 26, 1833

Dimensions

10 1/16 × 12 5/8 in. (25.6 × 32.1 cm)

Medium

Watercolor on paper

Institution

Joslyn Art Museum

Credit Line

Gift of the Enron Art Foundation

Accession Number

1986.49.302

Rights (i.e. copyright information)

Joslyn Art Museum

Photographer credit

Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Commentary

The object pictured here is an elaborate pipe lighter which belonged to a Piegan man who was said to be "afraid of iron." Apparently he shunned the use of the fire steels brought in by traders and used this device instead. A small wooden stick was inserted into the hollow end of the rod or cane and kindled, presumably from a fire or glowing coal. The pipe was lighted from this. The opposite end of the painted rod is decorated with feathers, cloth strips, and bells-perhaps the bells the owner received in trade from Maximilian for a necklace of scented roots. A woodcut of the pipe lighter appeared as an illustration in Travels in the Interior of North America.

References in Journal

August 26, 1833

Labels:

study

Approximate Depicted Location:

Fort McKenzie, Montana