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Turban Headdress

Kitkahanhki Pawnee

Not on view

The pelt of an ermine, a small weasel revered for its ferocious abilities as a hunter, forms the foundation of this headband. The ermine’s head appears on the wearer’s right, quill-wrapped fringes fall below, and two brass tacks function as eyes. The tail hangs to the wearer’s left and is decorated with a panel of porcupine quillwork depicting a bird and three animals. This headdress is the same one Pawnee chief La-wée-re-coo-re-shaw-wee wears in George Catlin’s 1832 portrait.

Turban Headdress, Ermine skin, wool cloth, silk ribbon, glass beads, brass tacks, porcupine quills, feathers, horsetail rhizome, brass bells, Kitkahanhki Pawnee

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