Catalog Archive
Auction 137, Lot 854

"Mo-Hon-Go. Osage Woman.", McKenney and Hall

Subject: Native Americans

Period: 1836 (circa)

Publication: History of the Indian Tribes of North America

Color: Hand Color

Size:
14 x 19.5 inches
35.6 x 49.5 cm
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Mo-hon-go (Sacred Son) and her husband were among a small group of Osage Indians tricked into traveling to Europe in 1827 by a man named David Delaunay. Delaunay persuaded them that he was a government representative and was going to take them to Washington, D.C to meet the President. Instead, he took them to Europe where he toured them as part of a wild west show. He was eventually arrested for being in debt and abandoned them in Paris. Lafayette learned of their plight and paid for their safe return to the United States.. Before arriving in Norfolk, Virginia, Mohongo's husband died of smallpox. The Osage were rescued from Norfolk and brought to Washington, D.C. in 1830 at McKenney's direction. King painted Mohongo's portrait there before her return to the Osage Nation, which had by that time been relocated from Missouri to Oklahoma. The beautifully rendered portrait depicts her in European clothing with her daughter holding a peace medal.

References:

Condition: B+

Beautiful example with a tiny abrasion in the image and a few minor creases and faint soiling in the blank areas.

Estimate: $500 - $600

Sold for: $350

Closed on 9/14/2011

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