Plains Indian (Mandan) Quilled Leadership Shirt
The back of the shirt has horse quirts depicting horses either captured or given away. A row of stick figure people are lined in a row of which the meaning is only known to the drawer. Also near the top are half circles which are horse tracks or people and horizontal coup lines. Þ |
Mandan This magnificent buckskin shirt is made with the legs of
the animal intact which hang as pendants at the lower corners. The image on
the left shows the shirt before the left side quill strip and fringe were
added. The war record is prominent on the front showing coup lines and an
attack upon an enemy. A dog soldier is shown naked and has a sash for
attaching to the ground where he would fight to the death if his side was
losing. It is assumed this is illustrating the wearer of the shirt.
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The quilled strips on the shirt are double-quill zig-zag, a difficult and time-consuming early style. The hair ties are human from enemies or donated by relatives. The horse hair indicates horses stolen in raids. |
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The figure with the red ochre sash indicates a dog soldier. Ý |
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Ý Touches of blue ochre were added to symbolize the sky. (Ochre is colored clay dug from hill sides.) Clay comes in a number of colors such as brown, yellow and red. These were mixed with hide glue and water to adhere them to the leather to avoid smudging. |
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Artifacts by Sioux Replications / All images © Franz Brown
Artifacts Group 1 / Group 2 / Group 3 |