EIGHT FRAMED MCKENNEY & HALL HANDCOLORED LITHOGRAPHS FROM OCTAVO ED. : HISTORY OF THE INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTH AMERICA,Published J.T. Bowen, D. Rice & A.N. Hart, Philadelphia. 1842-1858. Framed in groups of four in two wooden mouldings. Subjects depicted include: Little Crow, A Sioux Chief; Metakoosega, A Chippeway Warrior; Peechekir, A Chippewa Chief; Wabishkeepenas, A Chippewa; Peahmuska, A Musquakee Chief; Pashenine, A Chippewa Chief; Anacamegishca, A Chippeway Chief; and Shahaka, a Mandan Chief.
'From about 1821, Thomas McKenney, the U.S. Superintendent of Indian Trade within the War Department, started to commission portraits from Charles Bird King of American Indians who had traveled to Washington, D.C. as delegates to negotiate treaties with the federal government. McKenney continued this project as head of the Office of Indian Affairs. King painted portraits of American Indians up to 1837. These originals were lost in the 1865 fire at the Smithsonian, 295 of the original Indian portraits were consumed; only five were rescued. Although one of the painters had made a few copies of his favorite portraits for himself, nearly all of the portraits would have been irretrievably lost had McKenney, Hall, and their colleagues not completed this lithography and publication project. '
- Framed: 28 3/8" high x 21 3/8" wide. Sight: 9 1/4" high x 6 1/8" wide. Estimate $400-600
