FEATHERED WOLF. c. 1875...

Description

FEATHERED WOLF
c. 1875
Feathered Wolf, Southern Cheyenne, by John K. Hillers at Okmulgee, Indian Territory, May 10, 1875. Mounted on heavy paper mat with ink inscription, probably in the photographer's hand: "Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Ethnology, J. W. Powell in Charge, 'Hach-i-vi', Hillers Photo." The Cheyenne word for a Wolf is "honehe," not even suggested in the gloss that Hillers tried to record. The Cheyenne word for "crossed feathers," meaning feathers mussed or standing askew, is "hoxaveno" (ho-cha-vee-no), see Petter, 1915:1115 & 471. The correct sense of Hillers' "Ha-cha-vi", then, is an abbreviated form of "Wolf with hair standing up like an angry bird."

The cougar skin quiver from the preceding portrait has been exchanged for a beaded tobacco bag and magnificent pipe, the catlinite bowl of which is inlaid with lead. Feathered Wolf's leggings and moccasins are the same, but he now has a different breastplate and has lost the silver armbands and eagle feather. Compare the distinctive earrings here, and in Lot 55130.

In the NAA collections, this portrait (#gn_00264) is misidentified as "Little Bear." In the Getty Museum collection, it has the same misidentification.

Dimensions: image, 7 ¼ x 9 inches; mount, 13 x 15 inches

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