Shield and Cover

Provenance:
The Wellington Collection, Long Island, NY

In the 19th century the most important possessions of a Plains warrior were his personal medicine “talismans”, his shield and cover and his patron. During a vision quest, a patron, usually an animal or other being, would be revealed to the individual in a dream, and an adult name associated with the patron might be made known to the vision seeker. Throughout his life, particularly during combat, the man trusted and derived power and protection from his patron and his personal medicine.

In the beautifully painted shield illustrated here, we see a pronghorn antelope drawn in an expressive, lyrical fashion with power lines emanating from its forehead. This is almost certainly a portrayal of the individual’s patron, however the true meaning of the imagery could have been concealed to conserve its power. Alternatively, the meaning could have been made widely known so that awareness of a man’s mystical power might precede him. In either case,
the qualities manifest in the pronghorn – courage, inquisitiveness and fleetness of foot, would have been a source of power for the owner.

Without a precise collection history, tribal attribution of First Nations objects is difficult. Regional characteristics exist, including styles of manufacture, design and pictographic representations. This shield cover bears a strong resemblance to a number of examples with known Crow collection history. This attribution is further evidenced by the existence of a remarkably similar shield cover now in the American Museum of Natural History (Cat. No. 50.1-3896), collected by the noted anthropologist Robert Lowie, and published in his text, “Religion of the Crow Indians” (Lowie 1922). Almost certainly by the same hand as the example seen here, the Lowie shield cover also features a male pronghorn with virtually identical details, assuming the same stance and also showing “power lines” emanating from the forehead. Although rare, other examples exist of a warrior creating more than one similar shield and cover. Possible reasons for a duplicate vary; the original could have been lost in battle, surrendered to authorities or even sold.

In a world without written language pictographic representations are visual documents, and the people who inhabited the Great Plains of North America were particularly adept at this form of expression. This impressive shield and cover stand as a significant example
of this tradition.