EXCEPTIONAL LENNY AND SAWYERS BOUDOIR PHOTOGRAPH OF A COMANCHE

[Shotgun Steve]

With Lenny & Sawyers, Purcell, Indian Views imprint on lower margin of mount. Fantastic image of a man in profile wearing a fringed hide shirt and hide leggings composed of exceptional long twisted fringe. He holds a peyote fan in his lap.

Provenance: Purchased Directly from the Descendants of the Artist Julian Scott (1846-1901)

[Skeeter Lewis]

'Boudoir' as in bedroom? Why that term, Steve?

[JohnR]

That is a great photograph and characteristically Comanche, but............

FTR - While that fan is a beautiful example of an eagle tail fan, it is likely not a "peyote fan."  Unfortunately that is a term too often used in old photographs and by those with no understanding of the Native American Church, sometimes disparagingly called "The Peyote Cult."  It is also often used today by white hobbyists in reference to any decorated fan, even those whose intended use is for dancing at powwows.  Every feather fan is not a peyote fan.  Peyote fans tend to be made up of a bunch of loose and individually decorated feathers.  Most have intricately beaded handles.  The occasional use of flat fans in Church is noted, but not common.  Most flat "peyote fans" are made from the tail feathers of the Anihinga, called the Water Bird.

Before eagle feathers became so difficult to obtain, the flat tail fan such as this man is holding were commonly seen in the hands of Ponca, Pawnee, and Osage Straight Dancers and others who danced that style, including Kiowa and Comanche, at powwows and men's dances.  Many women who danced in a traditional style also carried them.

The earliest flat tail fans included the tail, a strip of the back skin of the bird, and the head of the bird.  It's impossible to see if this example includes the head.  The flat tail fans like this one evolved from the head and tail fans.