Turban Headdress
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.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.
Artwork Details
- Title: Turban Headdress
- Date: ca. 1830
- Geography: United States, Nebraska
- Culture: Kitkahanhki Pawnee
- Medium: Ermine skin, wool cloth, silk ribbon, glass beads, brass tacks, porcupine quills, feathers, horsetail rhizome, brass bells
- Dimensions: Length: 5 1/4 in. (13.3 cm)
Width: 14 1/2 in. (36.8 cm) - Classification: Hide-Costumes
- Credit Line: Bernisches Historisches Museum, Bern, Switzerland, Collection of L. A. Schoch (1890.410.18)
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing