Original Artwork

$750.00

“Counting Coupe”

“Counting Coupe”
Among the Plains Indians of North America, counting coup involved the winning of prestige against an enemy. Native American warriors won prestige by acts of bravery in the face of the enemy, which could be recorded in various ways and retold as stories. Any blow struck against the enemy counted as a coup, but the most prestigious acts included touching an enemy warrior with a hand, bow, or coup stick.
Counting coup could also involve stealing an enemy’s horses tied up to his lodge in camp. Risk of injury or death was required to count coup. Escaping unharmed while counting coup was considered a higher honor than being wounded in the attempt.
After a battle or exploit, the people of a band would gather together to recount their acts of bravery and “count coup”.

International Shipping: If you are outside the U.S., please contact us directly for a shipping quote.

1 in stock

Category:
Description

Description

“Counting Coupe”
Among the Plains Indians of North America, counting coup involved the winning of prestige against an enemy. Native American warriors won prestige by acts of bravery in the face of the enemy, which could be recorded in various ways and retold as stories. Any blow struck against the enemy counted as a coup, but the most prestigious acts included touching an enemy warrior with a hand, bow, or coup stick.
Counting coup could also involve stealing an enemy’s horses tied up to his lodge in camp. Risk of injury or death was required to count coup. Escaping unharmed while counting coup was considered a higher honor than being wounded in the attempt.
After a battle or exploit, the people of a band would gather together to recount their acts of bravery and “count coup”.

Reviews (0)

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review ““Counting Coupe””

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More Products

“Bison Bull with an Attitude”

$450.00

After the Civil War, buffalo killing went into high gear.
The combination of guns, railroads, commercial activity, and war between European settlers and American Indians proved deadly to the species. There was a huge market for buffalo skins and hides in the Northeast United States and Europe. A good buffalo skin would sell for $3 in Kansas, and a finished buffalo-hide winter coat would sell for $50. Buffalo leather was also well suited and in high demand for the belts used in pulleys and for steam engines in factories of the time.
Given the scope of this carnage, some hunters, including Buffalo Bill Cody, spoke out in favor of protecting the bison, but President Ulysses S. Grant refused to sign legislation to that effect. The U.S. Army encouraged the excessive killing of buffalo as a way of eliminating food supplies for Indian communities, enabling them to starve Indians off their land and onto reservations.
In the spring of 1886, a taxidermist from the Smithsonian, Hornaday, and his team, headed to Montana to collect specimens for the museum. Hornaday was stunned to find no live buffalo on the plains, only thousands of skeletons bleaching in the sun. The impact of killing some of the last buffalo was not lost on Hornaday, and he began to think about how to save the species.
The conservation of the bison had begun.

This is a polymer clay sculpture. It has been painted to a Faux Bronze finish. It is on a 12 inch circular wooden base. The overall dimensions are 18 X 12 X 12 inches.

“Red Cloud” (Lakota Chief)

$750.00

“The tribes of the Dakota before European contact in the 1600 lived in the region around Lake Superior. In this forest environment, they lived by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild rice. They also grew some corn, but their locale was near the limit of where corn could be grown.”
European expansion in the east pushed the Lakota west onto the Great Plains in the mid- to late-17th century.
This is when the Lakota began to domesticate the horse which was a major change to the way they defined themselves. They became more nomadic as they followed the great bison herds that roamed the Great plains
This sculpture is of a Lakota Chief, is made of polymer clays and the overall size is 23 X 16 X 16.

“To the Victor Go the Sorrels”

$550.00

“To the Victor Go the Sorrels”
Each herd typically has a dominant stallion referred to as the “herd stallion” and a few other less dominant stallions. Interestingly, each herd is led not by the dominant stallion but by a dominant mare. This is similar to the way we humans do things.
This original acrylic painting by Robert Walker is on a 16X20 gallery-wrapped canvas.

“Ghost Drums”

$750.00

Ghost Drums
The basis for the Ghost Dance is the circle dance, a traditional dance done by many Native Americans. The Ghost Dance was first practiced by the Nevada Northern Paiute in 1889. The practice swept throughout much of the Western United States, quickly reaching areas of California and Oklahoma. As the Ghost Dance spread from its original source, different tribes synthesized selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs.
The Ghost Dance was associate(Wovoka’s) prophecy of an end to white expansion while preaching goals of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation by Indians. Practice of the Ghost Dance movement was believed to have contributed to Lakota resistance to assimilation under the Dawes Act.

“One Damn Thing After Another”

$450.00

“One Damn Thing After Another”
In Yellowstone National Park, Wolves are more successful killing elk than bison. However, in late winter when bison were vulnerable because of poor condition or of bison that were injured or young, wolves learned to kill bison.
In this sculpture, considering the wolf being trampled, and the one being gored, it would appear that the outcome is far from certain.

“Lunch” (Kestrel and Grasshopper)

$750.00

“Lunch”
North America’s smallest falcon, the American Kestrel packs a predator’s fierce intensity into its small body. It’s one of the most colorful of all raptors: the male’s slate-blue head and wings contrast elegantly with his rusty-red back and tail; the female has the same warm reddish on her wings, back, and tail. Hunting for insects and other small prey in open territory, kestrels perch on wires or poles, or hover facing into the wind, flapping and adjusting their long tails to stay in place.
This is an original acrylic painting on a gallery-wrapped canvas. It’s overall size is 36 X 18 inches. There is nothing covering the canvas.