A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historiae Literarum et Artium, 4. (Szeged, 2004)

Nagy Imre: A Preliminary Report on the Friedman Kein Canvas

display in the Deutsches Ledermuseum, Offenbach, Germany. Both of these pieces are attributed to the Sioux, but these attributions are very questionable. In the 1992 Italian publication, the attribution of the Spagni shirt was modified to Lakota (the western Sioux group), although in footnotes Laurencich-Minelli expressed her doubts and proposed a possible Mandan attribution

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, based on the Lewis and Clark robe, now in the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology (Laurencich-Minelli 1992: 38-41; 100, n. 20 & 27). In the light of the recently published Mandan shirts (Penney 1992: 146; Penney 1998: 70-71; Horse Capture & Horse Capture 2001: 54-57) this proposed attribution seems absolutely wrong. There are very few documented, pre1850 pieces from the Great Plains, and even when we know the place of collection that does not necessarily mean that we can be sure about the place of origin. Although Antonio Spagni reported that „..., I lived among the Cheyenne and Sioux nomadic tribes for eighteen whole months...", he attributed only the long-stemmed catlinite pipe of his collection to the Cheyenne, while the rest of the collection to the Sioux (Laurencich-Minelli 1990: 191). Now, after the positive identification of the Little Buffalo Thigh shield images on the shirt we can firmly declare that the painting of this quilled shirt was made by Cheyenne artist(s), although this does not necessarily mean that the shirt itself (the sewing, the quilling and beading of the piece) was made by Cheyennes. We know that the shirt was already in Italy in 1844, and could not have been prepared later than 1843. If we take into consideration that Little Buffalo Thigh's mother, Old Sioux Woman was born about 1802, and we suppose that her husband was about the same age, then we should identify the shield bearing figure(s) with False Lame, Little Buffalo Thigh's father. About 1840 he would be in his forties, thus in appropriate age to brag about his war deeds on a war shirt. Considering the style of the paintings (V-neck figures, simplified horses) we might date the shirt pre1800; however, it shows not much sign of daily use, consequently it should have been prepared shortly before its collection date. This excludes the possibility that we should identify the shield bearing hero with Little Buffalo Thigh's paternal grandfather, Old Man Tipi. Fortunately, this is not the only instance when the Little Buffalo Thigh shield design was depicted and preserved. The earliest known, and documented Cheyenne ledgerbook, the so-called Summit Springs Ledger, or the Dog Soldier Ledger also preserved four images where the shield (or variants of it) were depicted (Afton, et. al. 1997: Plates 70, 81, 100, 111 & p. 156). The iconographical relation of this design is discussed by Cowdrey (1999: 62-64). The Summit Springs Ledger was „collected" during the 1869 destruction of Tall Bull's Dog Soldier village by the 5

lh U.S. Cavalry, under the command of Major Eugene A. Carr. Today, it is preserved in the Colorado Historical Society, Denver, Colorado. Three of the four scenes were made by the same artist who was identified by Afton as White Bird (1997: 154-156; 202; 226). In two of these cases the name glyph really represents a white fowl (Figs. 12 & 13). Because no Cheyenne man called White Bird, White Eagle, or White Hawk was listed by Little Buffalo Thigh among the four owners of this shield type, we should surmise that he only borrowed this protective weapon for certain encounters. 8

1 acknowledge Adriana Greci-Greene for translating this important text to me. 114