Noapeh, An Assiniboin Indian / Psihdja-Sahpa, Yanktonan Indian
Engraved by Chollet and Hurlimann Printed by Bougeard (unavailable - please enquire)
Tableau 12. Noapeh, An Assiniboin Indian / Psihdja-Sahpa, Yanktonan Indian
$3,950.00

Bodmer painted a portrait of an Assiniboin man, whose name roughly translates as "Troop of Soldiers," at Fort Union on June 28, 1833. According to Prince Maximilian, Noapeh sat patiently for Bodmer, despite frequent interruptions from members of his family who were curious to see what Bodmer was doing. A striking feature of this portrait is the large quilled rosette which decorates the front of Noapeh's shirt. Also distinctive is the antelope-horn headdress he wears. Maximilian wanted to obtain this headdress for his collection, but could not persuade Noapeh to sell it to him. He later managed to buy a similar one from another Assiniboin man.

Presented with Noapeh in the published print is a Yankton Sioux man who visited Fort Clark in January, 1834. Again according to Maximilian's account, he was not willing at first to have his portrait painted, but finally agreed to sit for Bodmer after a Mandan friend, Sih-Chida, persuaded him to do so. At the time, it was so cold in Bodmer's quarters at the fort that he had difficulty in keeping his watercolors from freezing. He persevered, however, and Psihdja-Sahpa's portrait was completed.

Other Assiniboin subjects were featured in Vignettes XV and XVI of the European atlas, and in Tableaux 9, 30, and 32. Additional Sioux-related studies were reproduced in Vignette XXX and Tableaux 8, 9, and 11.

A portrait of Psihdja-Sahpa's Mandan friend, Sih-Chida, is represented in Tableau 20 of this series.

Note: Although the title to Tableau 9 identifies the young girl shown with the Sioux woman as an Assiniboin, Prince Maximilian said that she was actually a Blackfeet girl who had been adopted into the Assiniboin tribe. The exact tribal affiliation of the woman also has been questioned, her name implying a former relationship with the Crow.

Text by David Hunt, Director, Stark Museum, Orange, Texas, USA

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