Indegenous Peoples, Sioux Chief near Fort Pierre
Carl Bodmer – Funeral Scaffold of a Sioux Chief near Fort Pierre, 1839–1842
“Todtengerüste eines Sioux-Chefs bei Fort Pierre”
“Echafaudage Funeraire D'Un Chef Sioux pres du Fort Pierre”
“Funeral Scaffold of a Sioux Chief near Fort Pierre”
From Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied, Reise in das Innere Nord-America in den Jahren 1832 bis 1834
(Travels in the Interior of North America during the Years 1832–1834)
Plate 11
Carl Bodmer (1809–1893), artist
Aquatint engraving by Hürlimann after Bodmer
Original hand coloring, heightened with gum arabic
Printed by Bougeard, Paris
Published in Paris by Arthus Bertrand, in Coblenz by J. Hölscher, and in London by Ackermann & Co.
Publication: 1839–1842
This is an original plate from the first edition of one of the most important illustrated accounts of the American West.
A Rare Visual Record of Sioux Funerary Practices
This remarkable plate by Carl Bodmer documents a funerary scaffold of a Sioux chief near Fort Pierre on the Missouri River. Rather than presenting a generalized or romanticized scene, Bodmer's work records a specific aspect of Indigenous funerary practice encountered during Prince Maximilian's 1832–1834 expedition through the American West.
Funerary scaffolds were used by some Plains peoples as a means of placing the deceased above the ground. The dead could be wrapped or placed on a platform supported by poles, with personal possessions or offerings sometimes associated with the burial. Practices varied considerably among Native American nations and changed over time, making contemporary first-hand visual documentation such as Bodmer's particularly important.
Maximilian and Bodmer's Missouri Expedition
Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied (1782–1867) was a German naturalist, ethnologist, and explorer. In 1832 he traveled to North America with the intention of documenting its natural history, geography, and Indigenous peoples.
He was accompanied by the young Swiss artist Carl Bodmer, whose extraordinary drawings, watercolors, and paintings became the foundation for the illustrations in Maximilian's monumental account.
The expedition traveled by steamboat and keelboat up the Missouri River, reaching the region of present-day South Dakota and continuing into what is now Montana. Along the way, Maximilian and Bodmer visited important fur-trade posts and encountered numerous Indigenous communities, including the Sioux, Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, and Gros Ventre (A'aninin).
Their extended stay in the upper Missouri region produced an unparalleled body of visual documentation of the peoples, landscapes, wildlife, settlements, and material culture of the northern Great Plains.
Bodmer's Extraordinary Documentation
Bodmer's importance lies in the fact that he worked directly from observation during the expedition. His portraits and ethnographic scenes record clothing, ornaments, architecture, transportation, ceremonies, and everyday life with a degree of detail unusual for the period.
The resulting publication, Reise in das Innere Nord-America, is regarded as one of the great illustrated accounts of the American West and one of the most important visual records of Native American cultures created before the profound changes brought by westward expansion.
The plates were produced using aquatint, a technique particularly well suited to translating the tonal range of Bodmer's original watercolors into print. The finest impressions were subsequently hand-colored, with areas of color further heightened using gum arabic, producing the luminous surface characteristic of the original edition.
First Edition and Bodmer Dry Stamp
The present impression was printed on China paper and mounted onto heavier supporting paper, a characteristic format encountered in the original publication. It retains a Bodmer dry stamp, partially impressed on the China paper and partially on the surrounding mounting paper below the center.
The original hand coloring is exceptionally well preserved, with gum arabic providing additional highlights and depth.
Condition
Very good overall condition.
- Printed on China paper and mounted onto stronger supporting paper.
- Light general age toning to the China paper.
- Some soiling in the title area.
- Spotting and foxing to the surrounding supporting paper.
- A water stain in the lower-left margin extends slightly onto the China paper but remains well away from the image.
- A few light marginal creases.
- Two minute holes in the China paper, one near the left side of the image, approximately pinhole size.
- Original hand coloring is exceptionally well preserved and heightened with gum arabic.
- Bodmer dry stamp below center, partially on the China paper and partially on the supporting paper.
Image: 26.2 × 32.3 cm (10.3 × 12.7 in.)
China paper: 35 × 42.5 cm (13.8 × 16.7 in.)
Overall: 41.3 × 53 cm (16.3 × 20.9 in.)
Historical Importance
The importance of Bodmer's plates extends well beyond their extraordinary artistic quality. They constitute a first-hand visual record of the Indigenous peoples and landscapes of the upper Missouri River during the 1830s.
For collectors of Native American history, Western Americana, early exploration, ethnography, and 19th-century natural-history illustration, the original plates from Maximilian's expedition are among the most significant works of their kind.
The publication was issued in a relatively limited number of copies, and complete first-edition sets are uncommon. Individual original plates, particularly those documenting specific aspects of Indigenous life and culture, remain highly desirable.
