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Sometimes referred to as the Missouri tribes, the Southern Sioux (Iowa, Kansa, Missouri, Omaha, Osage, Oto and Ponca) lived on the eastern edge of the Great Plains. They differed from the better-known Lakota / Dakota group in that, beside being buffalo-hunters, they were also farmers and did not live in tepees except when on the march. Their regular houses were oven-shaped, covered with earth and grouped into villages similar to those of the Woodlands tribes.
The 1/6th scale bust comprises eight finely-detailed resin parts and depicts a typical Osage or Southern Plains warrior. It's based on several contemporary paintings by George Catlin who gave us the most precise description of these tribes prior to their removal to their reservation in Oklahoma.
The characteristics of the Southern Sioux are well represented by the shaved head, the bear claw necklace which was the mark of great bravery and the impressive brass-studded gun stock war-club.
On the back of the warrior's head, tied to his scalp lock, hangs his ‘medicine’, a stuffed kingfisher skin adorned with glass beads, small stones and cowrie shells. The paintings on the buffalo robe depict its owner’s deeds.
The body paint, often wrongly referred to as 'war paint', was an important part in the Plains Indians' religious belief system.
Each design and colour had a meaning along with the area on which the paint was applied. In most cases, the warrior asked for protection against his enemies and also an enhancement of his own powers, thus the common usage of painting around the eyes (vision), the ears (hearing) and the mouth (breath).
The design chosen for our bust comes from Catlin's painting of White Cloud
, an Ioway chief. Red was a sacred colour and usually stood for strength and success. For this reason, red was the favourite colour and was used equally for weapons and other articles of war and ceremony. White usually stood for mourning and black for joy, although the meaning varied among tribes.
The paints were made from clays, organic or vegetal matters mixed with grease or buffalo tallow acting as a carrier. They were applied with the fingers or brushes made from chewed sticks. A spongy bone from the knee joint of the buffalo was also used, which held paint as the modern fountain pen does ink.
Medicine was the bond between the native warrior and the supernatural world. One of the first things that a young Indian did when he reached manhood was to obtain his medicine. He might do this through a dream or a vision or he might select certain things which had brought him luck.
Once he had his medicine, the warrior believed nothing could harm him. He would purposely test its power by exposing himself to the enemies' arrows or bullets.
The medicine in this instance, took the shape of a kingfisher, a symbol of swiftness, adorned with small stones, glass beads and cowrie shells.
Picture writing was a way for the Indians to keep a record of time and important events. The pictograms were painted on skins, bark or buffalo robes
. The drawings may appear crude and naive to our modern eye but nevertheless were extremely precise in the details which mattered for the painter, such as war dress, body paint, location of wounds.
Model kit requires assembly & painting. |
