FRANCIS VINCENTI | BUST OF AYSH-KE-BAH-KE-KO-ZHAY, OR FLAT MOUTH, AN OJIBWA CHIEF

The present intriguing bust is a variant on the bust of Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay, or Flat Mouth, currently on display in the United States Senate (inv. no. 21.00001.000). A powerful chief of the Ojibwa people in the Leech Lake area (present-day Minnesota), his name translates as 'bird with the green bill'. His nickname, Flat Mouth, derives from an English translation of the French Gueule Platte, as he was called by French traders. 

Flat Mouth visited Washington DC in 1855 to negotiate land treaties. He was a member of an Indian delegation from the Midwest that also included Be sheekee, or Buffalo, another Ojibwa leader. Both chiefs sat for portraits by Francis Vincenti (Be sheekee's bust is also in the collection of the Senate, inv. no. 21.00002.000), a relatively unknown sculptor of Italian descent. Vincenti is known to have worked as a stone-cutter on the decoration on the Capitol between 1853-1858, and probably moved to Paris later, after a brief period in Richmond, Virginia. The two busts by Vincenti in the Senate are not dated, but records suggest they were completed in late 1855 or early 1856. A bronze variant of Be sheekee's bust is known to have been made in 1858. 

RELATED LITERATURE

Aysh-ke-bah-ke-ko-zhay, or Flat Mouth, United States Senate, https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/artifact/Sculpture_21_00001.htm;  [page retrieved 07/11/2019]

Be Sheekee, or Buffalo, United States Senate, 

https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/artifact/Sculpture_21_00002.htm; [page retrieved 07/11/2019]