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Miniature Tipi with Painted Battlescene
Accession # 63.201.8
Culture Arapaho
Title Miniature Tipi with Painted Battlescene
Date late 19th century
Medium Hide, pigment, wood
Dimensions 22 13/16 x 13 x 13 in. (57.9 x 33 x 33 cm)
Credit Line Dick S. Ramsay Fund
Location American Identities: Colony to Nation / Inventing American Landscape
Description Miniature hide tipi cover with a painted battle scene. On a natural background there are painted designs in brown, pink, black and grey. They represent a battle scene (possibly a horse raid) and include two mounted Indians, two leading horses, and two fallen warriors. Also shown are four warriors with rifles, hoof prints of horses, and, near the top, three stylized feather designs. Good example of miniature tipi even though not made quite correctly-too upright. Design: hoof prints indicate movement. The person hurt and lying down might be Pawnee or Osage based on the hairstyle and might have been done in by the one with the rifle. One is wearing military pants. The horses’ tails are tied and decorated and must be favorite warhorses as their manes are also tied. Can't tell who or what the person with the lines on his face is. Dots might indicate a person who had small pox.