A Nez Perce Beaded Hide Man's Wearing Shirt

composed of finely tanned mountain sheep hide in the classic  poncho style, with attached sleeves, overlaid on the shoulders and sleeves with hide strips, sinew sewn with large globular "pony" and Venetian glass "seed" beadwork, in typical pastel colors, with geometric motifs, the fringed hide bibs similarly decorated.

Duane Alderman, Pendleton, OR

H. Malcolm Grimmer, Santa Fe, NM

George Shaw, Aspen, CO

Private Collection, Apsen, CO

Acquired by the present owner from Morning Star Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

Washington State University: "Sacred Encounters: Father DeSmet and the Indians of the Rocky Mountains West," Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, MT, April 1993; Vancouver Museum, Vancouver, British Columbia; Kansas City Museum at Rockhurst College, Kansas City, MO; Natural History Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Eiteljorge Museum, Indianapolis, IN; Oregon Historical Society, Portland, OR; Washington State Historical Society,Tacoma, WA. 

Shaw, Art of the Ancestors: Antique American Indian Art, 2004, p. 55, illustrated

Wissler, Costumes of the Plains Indians, originally published 1915, re-printed 2006, cover illustration

This shirt is believed to have belonged to Talking Water, also known as Koosh-yah-seekin, a contemporary of Chief Joseph, respected medicine man and warrior.  Although a photograph of Talking Water has yet to be discovered, it is widely believed that he was a dwarf. (His great, great granddaughter is three and one-half feet tall.) 

An oral history suggests that after the death of Talking Water, the shirt was eventually gifted to Young Chief, the grandson of Old Chief Joseph and his third wife, and the nephew of Chief Joseph. Young Chief died before 1935.