Mandan Drum
Description
Drums and rattles were the most common Plains musical instruments. This particular drum belonged to Mató-Tópe, the Mandan chief pictured in Plates 317 and 318. The design, representing buffalo tracks and lightning, is red on a black background. The notation on the side of the drum says "reddish." In Tableau 48 of the published atlas, the drum is shown with a drumstick wrapped in strips of bright cloth and festooned with leather thongs.
Medium
pencil on paper
Dimensions
7 1/4 x 8 3/8
Call No.
JAM.1986.49.272
Approximate Date of Creation
13th November 1833