The Chief of the Little Osages

The Chief of the Little Osages

Pavel Petrovich Svinin

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This portrait is a copy after Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin’s "Chief of the Little Osages" (1804–7; New-York Historical Society). Svinin reproduced the details of the sitter’s beaded wampum ear-drops, silver ear rim bands, shaved scalp, and dyed lock of hair while adding a nose ring and intricate facial tattooing.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.