Monday, June 4, 2012

Plains Indians sketches - shield and armour

Salve,
some sketches of the Plains Indians and ways of carrying the shield:  work-in-progress

idea of the Plains Indian horse armour of XVIII century, especially Comanches, Plains Apaches (then Lipan, Mescalero, Jicarilla etc) and Shoshones
Comanche shield of the mid-XIX century, and some sketches showing ways of carrying the shield

Crow warrior, horse with a pad saddle and long shabraque - old sketch

Cheyenne mounted on a horse with a bison hide horse mask, early 1800s

Lakota warrior

late XIX century generic war chief mounted on a horse with a leather mask and breastplate



9 comments:

Sam Wise said...

Interesting post!
I love the Indians and the pictures are very good!
a lot of informations!
Thanks

(I'm not a robot, and I don't have good eyes, so I hate the Blogger Robot Fighter!)

Dario T. W. said...

Thank you and hope to provide you with more interesting pictures and stories :). God willing, of course ...

Sam Wise said...

thanks!
that's sure I'll come back each time I'll have some indians (and horses!) to paint!
and also just for the pleasure, of course!
(I like very much to paint horses: your blog is an Encyclopaedia!)

Artist - David Lemon said...

Dario, the second drawing down from the top .. the shield with two straps. What did they do with the extra strap.. Love this blog entry.. I'm getting ready to do a new Indian piece.. It helps to see reference from other artists.

Dario T. W. said...

Hello David - thank you for you kind words. This particular shield is a Comanche one, from the Harvey Collection - here there is more description (drawings are from Reverend Mails book Mistic Warriors of the Plains, 502-3) http://www.amazon.com/Royal-Horsemanship-Jousting-Knightly-Combat/dp/189144834X
I simplified my drawing to show the unusual two separate loops while omitting the small handle at the top. Perhaps the cloth loop was added later [ perhaps by the new owner who added more 'medicine'?]when the shield had been already equipped with the rawhide loop. I wonder it you have the photos of the Lakota warrior (ob Wild Bill Cody Show) photographed I think in NYC in the 1880s, showing the ways of carrying the shield and using a pistol when mounted etc? Good luck with the new piece!

Artist - David Lemon said...

Can't remember the photos your talking about...

Dario T. W. said...

David,
no problem - I have them scanned on my hard drive
So if you like send me an email and I will send them to you - darajawausz[at]gmail[dot]com

Tarzan said...

I just found these, very nice! Yes Mystic Warriors of the Plains is a fantastic book, love the sketches within it.

A Cheyenne named Touch the Clouds was killed in battle with the Pawnee in the 1850's, (1853 maybe?) and he was wearing an iron cuirass of Spanish design that had been given to him by his father which had been acquired during a Cheyenne raid into Mexico... and this was when the entire tribe was still based around the Black Hills before the split of around 1830, when half the tribe moved to be based along the Big Timbers area of the Arkansas River in Eastern Colorado/Western Kansas. The Cheyenne roamed far and wide!

Dario T. W. said...

thank you again, for your commenting and interest.
It would be fun to recreate Touch the Could's appearance circa 1850.
Perhaps one day
all the best and Happy Holidays