Carved Dance Mirror
Arts of the Americas
MEDIUM
Wood, pigment, glass
DATES
early 19th century
INSCRIPTIONS
"Sioux Chief's Looking Glass"
ACCESSION NUMBER
50.67.96
CREDIT LINE
Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund
PROVENANCE
Prior to 1848, provenance not yet documented; by 1848, acquired by Nathan Sturges Jarvis; 1848, gift of Nathan Sturges Jarvis to the New-York Historical Society, New York, NY; 1937, loaned by the New-York Historical Society to the Brooklyn Museum; 1950, purchased from the New-York Historical Society by the Brooklyn Museum.
Provenance FAQ
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Two trade mirrors, one slightly larger than the other, are set into one side of a soft red wood paddle shaped frame. The top portion has a cutout opening shaped as a ball with a pointed top. Below the mirrors is another opening carved into the shape of a pointed ovoid. The wood on this side of the frame is chip carved and incised with lines rubbed with red and black, many of which look like elongated leaves. Below the mirrors are two triangular shapes with two extensions on each one, resembling the heads of horned animals.
On the reverse side of the frame, a creature is incised. Clearly a quadruped with a heart line, its horns are placed at the juncture of its head and neck, and its tail transforms into a thunderbird. Below this is an irregular rectangle in double outlines of red and green with a petal shaped form at each corner. At the center of this shape is a red complex form made of two chevron shapes joined at their central points. On this side of the object, the pointed ovoid opening is outlined in red and green incised lines with red foliate form at one end and another small pointed oval at the other. Below this is a simple form in red line that mimics the shape of the end of the stick-like leaf forms within.
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Sioux. Carved Dance Mirror, early 19th century. Wood, pigment, glass, 32 x 3 3/8 in. (81.3 x 8.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund, 50.67.96. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.67.96.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 50.67.96.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a
Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply.
Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online
application form (charges apply).
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the
United States Library of Congress,
Cornell University,
Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and
Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our
blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact
copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and
we welcome any additional information you might have.
