$663,000
Rare and Important Blackfeet Chief's Shirt and Leggings, c. 1830s, the shirt made from two sinew-sewn bighorn sheepskins, trimmed with red wool cloth bibs, human hair locks, and yellow dyed horse mane, with shoulder and arm strips, and large rosettes on the chest and back embroidered with dyed porcupine quills, with nearly forty figures painted in black, red ocher, yellow ocher, and turquoise blue depicting the owners' warfare exploits, thirty-four black stripes painted on the sleeves indicate the number of war expeditions led by at least two different owners; the leggings made of sinew-sewn antelope skins and decorated with human hair locks, yellow dyed horse mane, and strips of embroidered porcupine quillwork, painted with fifty-three horizontal black stripes representing the number of war expeditions the owner(s) participated in; (some quill loss, the animal leg pendant under the right arm missing), lg. of shirt including leg appendages 44, wd. cuff to cuff 65, lg. of leggings 36 in. Provenance: Collected by Captain Reymond Hervey de Montmorency, Third Viscount Frankfort de Montmorency. Note: For an in-depth discussion of this important outfit written by Mike Cowdrey, visit www.skinnerinc.com/auctions/2893B A copy of the complete essay will be included with the lot.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2016-05-06
