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Doll

ca. 1880
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Plains dolls made in the 1880s usually had leather or muslin heads. Here, the maker placed a stone carved by a man—previously the head of a club—on a doll’s body. Remarking on this departure, contemporary doll artist Rhonda Holy Bear said this act "joined the male energy of the carving to the female energy of the doll, and something new and profound was created."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Doll
  • Date: ca. 1880
  • Geography: United States, Wyoming
  • Culture: Northern Cheyenne
  • Medium: Slate, native-tanned leather, glass beads, horsehair, metal cones, pigment, brass
  • Dimensions: Height: 15 3/4 in. (40 cm)
  • Classification: Hide-Sculpture
  • Credit Line: National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. (230850.000)
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing