Quáy-hám-kay, Stone Shell, a Brave

George Catlin, Quáy-hám-kay, Stone Shell, a Brave, 1834, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.65
Copied George Catlin, Quáy-hám-kay, Stone Shell, a Brave, 1834, oil on canvas, 29 x 24 in. (73.7 x 60.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.65
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Artwork Details

Title
Quáy-hám-kay, Stone Shell, a Brave
Artist
Date
1834
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 — Kiowa
  • Portrait male — Stone Shell
Object Number
1985.66.65
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1985.66.65

Artwork Description

George Catlin wrote that Stone Shell, a Kiowa brave, was “another fair specimen of the warriors of this tribe,” and that he was “somewhat allied to the mysteries and arcana of the healing art, from the close company he keeps with my friend Dr. Findley, who is surgeon to the regiment, and by whom I have been employed to make a copy of my portrait of this distinguished personage.” Catlin painted Stone Shell at a Comanche village in 1834. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 43, 1841; reprint 1973)