An Arapaho Painted and Beaded Hide Man's Shirt

composed of finely tanned hide, glass beads, pigment, probably indigo, and sinew.

Very good original condition with typical wear.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

For a discussion of Plains Men's shirts please see Barbara A. Hail, Hau, Kola, Brown University, 1980, p. 68: "When Lewis and Clark described the everyday attire of Arikara men in 1804 they made no mention of the best-known article of Plains male dress, the warshirt, probably because they did not see it. Until the mid-nineteenth-century shirts were worn only by distinguished leaders as a kind of honorary emblem. They were highly decorated with paintings of their owner's war exploits, small bunches of human or horsehair representative of scalp-trophies taken, and strips of woven and plaited porcupine quills sewn on at the shoulders and upper sleeve, possibly intended originally as a covering for seams and later modified in imitation of the gold-fringed epaulets of British and French military uniforms (Wissler, 1975:103).

 

It appears that the earliest Plains shirts were made in poncho style (Wissler, 1975:51) of two skins of deer, elk, antelope, bighorn sheep, or small buffalo. These ponchos have been called "binary" (Conn, 1974:59), since they contain two main sections, front and back, made of two skins matched for their size and shape. The two skins were cut across just below the fore-legs and sewn together to form the shoulder line, leaving a slit for the neck. The upper part of each skin was folded or cut along the spine and used as a sleeve, with the long fore-legs retained as decorative dangles (fig. 71). Sleeves and sides were open, and the hind legs hung below the hemline on either side, often retaining their fur and dewclaws, especially in honorary or society shirts. The skin that had covered the head of the animal was retained as a rectangular or triangular flap at the neck. These neck flaps were eventually copied in cloth and came to be decorated with quills or beads (fig. 73). Occasionally the skins were placed the other way around so that the hind legs formed the sleeves. Two early-ninteenth century shirts in the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, exemplify these two contrasting arrangements of skins (PMC 53041,11004). This open-sided poncho style appears to have been part of a southern clothing tradition, originating in the Ohio-Mississippi region and carried by Siouan speakers to the northwestern Plains (Brasser, 1976:31)

 

The honorary shirt of the 1800s, sometimes called a deer-leg shirt or warshirt, continued to be made and worn during the second half of the nineteenth century, after shirts had become more common apparel for men. Crazy Horse, a warrior in the Oglala Band of the Teton Dakota, was one of four young men who won membership in the band's Shirt-Wearers' Society in 1865. Decorated shirts were made for them by older leaders, with ornamentation representing the young men's individual triumphs, and the shirts were presented in a formal investiture ceremony. The Shirt-Wearers were expected to act as leaders in council as well as in battle, and to be mindful always of the well-being of the tribe as a whole. Crazy Horse had to surrender his shirt after he endangered tribal unity by eloping with the wife of a fellow Oglala.

 

Even after the days of Plains warfare were over, decorative honorary shirts were made for use at tribal social and political events. Often worn by members of official delegations, they signified that the wearer was a man of importance among his people."