Portrait of the Oneida Chieftain Shikellamy

Gallery 107, American Art, first floor (Johnson Gallery)

Main Building

Portrait of the Oneida Chieftain Shikellamy

c. 1820

Artist/maker unknown, American

Shikellamy was vice regent over all of Pennsylvania's tribes and served as the primary liaison between the colonists and the Six Nations of the Iroquois from 1728 until his death in 1748. He worked to keep the peace, stem the sale of alcohol to his people, and establish a forge to make rifles like the flintlock example in his hand. Working at a time of difficult negotiations between the many different tribes, the English colonists, and the French traders, the chieftain's word was law. The sign of the Oneida was the turtle, seen around the waistline of Shikellamy's clothing in this posthumous portrait.

Gallery 107, American Art, first floor (Johnson Gallery)

Object Details

Title:

Portrait of the Oneida Chieftain Shikellamy

Date:

c. 1820

Artist:

Artist/maker unknown, American

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

45 1/8 × 31 7/8 inches (114.6 × 81 cm) Framed: 52 x 38 3/4 x 2 1/2 inches (132.1 x 98.4 x 6.4 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

The Collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, 1966

Accession Number:

1966-219-3

Geography:

Probably made in Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America

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Gallery 107, American Art, first floor (Johnson Gallery)

Main Building

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