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
- Portrait female — Fire Bug That Creeps
- Indian — Assiniboin
- Object Number
- 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)
