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
George Catlin, Chin-cha-pee, Fire Bug That Creeps, Wife of Pigeon's Egg Head, 1832, oil on canvas, 2924 in. (73.760.9 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
Date
1832
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
2924 in. (73.760.9 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)

Works by this artist (2 items)

Henry Le Keux, John Martin, A Sudden Chasm, 1829, engraving, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Nigel Cholmeley-Jones, 1967.54.56
A Sudden Chasm
Date1829
engraving
Not on view
Henry Le Keux, William Henry Bartlett, St. Stephen's Church, Vienna, n.d., engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Nigel Cholmeley-Jones, 1967.14.38
St. Stephen’s Church, Vienna
Daten.d.
engraving on paper
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

George Catlin, Osceola, n.d., lithograph, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Museum of Natural History, Department of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, 1985.66.386,591E
Osceola
Daten.d.
lithograph
Not on view
George Catlin, Joc-o-sot, the Walking Bear, n.d., lithograph, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Museum of Natural History, Department of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, 1985.66.386,592BBB
Joc-o-sot, the Walking Bear
Daten.d.
lithograph
Not on view
Unidentified (European), Marie Antionete [sic] D'Autriche, Reine de France et de Navarre, Nee a Vienna 2 November 1755, n.d., engraving on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly, 1929.7.23
Marie Antionete [sic] D’Autriche, Reine de France et de…
Artist
Unidentified (European)
Daten.d.
engraving on paper
Not on view
The Scalp Dance
Daten.d.
lithograph
Not on view