Museum Collections
Luce Center
Portrait of an Indian Chief, Red Jacket (c.1758-1830)?
Object Number:
1953.206
Date:
1807
Medium:
Watercolor, graphite, and black and brown ink on paper
Dimensions:
Overall: 6 1/2 x 4 15/16 in. ( 16.5 x 12.5 cm )
mat: 14 x 11 in. ( 35.6 x 27.9 cm )
Marks:
inscription: none
Description:
Portrait
Gallery Label:
This is probably the earliest portrait of the famous Seneca Indian chief Red Jacket (sa-go-ye-wat-ha ca. 1758-1830) drawn by the baroness in July 1807 during her journey to upstate New York. Knife in hand, the Indian appears to be hodling a piece of buckskin, possibly the vamp of a moccasin, of which the baron wrote in his memoirs: "The Chief Read Jaret [Red Jacket?] is no better housed than the rest; he was busy making foot-gear of deer skin called mocassins..."
Bibliography:
Kasprycki, Sylvia S., and Feest, Christian, trans. "On the Trails of the Iroquois." Berlin: Nicolai, 2013.
Credit Line:
Purchase
Provenance:
De Neuville family, France; E. De Vries, Paris, 1928; Columbia University Press Book Store, NYC, 1929; Old Print Shop, NYC, 1953
Due to ongoing research, information about this object is subject to change.