Chin-cha-pee, Fire Bug That Creeps, Wife of Pigeon’s Egg Head

George Catlin, Chin-cha-pee, Fire Bug That Creeps, Wife of Pigeon's Egg Head, 1832, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.180
Copied George Catlin, Chin-cha-pee, Fire Bug That Creeps, Wife of Pigeon's Egg Head, 1832, oil on canvas, 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 60.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.180
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Artwork Details

Title
Chin-cha-pee, Fire Bug That Creeps, Wife of Pigeon’s Egg Head
Artist
Date
1832
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 60.9 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Indian — Assiniboin
  • Portrait female — Fire Bug That Creeps
Object Number
1985.66.180
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1985.66.180

Artwork Description

George Catlin painted Chin-cha-pee, wife of the Assiniboine warrior Pigeon’s Egg Head (see 1985.66.179), at Fort Union, in 1832. Catlin described the woman as “fine looking . . . in a handsome dress of the mountain-sheep skin, holding in her hand a stick curiously carved, with which every woman in this country is supplied; for the purpose of digging up the . . . prairie turnip.” (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 1, no. 8, 1841; reprint 1973)