Ledger Drawing

Pages 113 and 114 of the Mad Bull Ledger Book. Page 113 depicts a complex figural scene recording several animal species as well as a number of social groups which inhabited the Great Plains in late 19th century. The drawing has been annotated, perhaps by Ben Clark, settler who was assigned as “post interpreter” at Fort Reno in 1878, with English descriptions of its various animal and human subjects. From left to right they read as ‘Pawnee,' 'still hunting Buffalo,' 'Cheyenne with white cloth on head crawling on antelope,’ ‘hunting scene,’ 'antelope' and 'white man.’ Page 114 captures three high-ranking Native American warriors, each identified by a glyph, as they arrive at a camp of five yellow tipis.

PROVENANCE

Collected at Fort Reno, Cheyenne and Arapaho Agency, Oklahoma, by Palmer Tilton, Lieut. 20th US Infantry and subsequently gifted on March 27th, 1884 to E.F Riggs, Esq.
Donald Ellis Gallery, Dundas, ON
Private Collection, Toronto, ON

REFERENCE

An undated photograph of Mad Bull from the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Cat. Nr. 4327.3764