Catalog Archive
Auction 98, Lot 444

"[Lot of 3 Lithographs]", Schott, Arthur

Subject: Native Americans

Period: 1857 (published)

Publication: Mexican Boundary Survey

Color: Printed Color

Size:
5.5 x 8.3 inches
14 x 21.1 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

Following the annexation of Texas in 1846 and the U.S.-Mexican War of 1847, the United States acquired vast new territories in the west. The United States and Mexican Boundary Survey was established to fix the southern boundary of the United States from the mouth of the Rio Grande to the coast of California and to explore the territory it enclosed. From Brownsville to El Paso the boundary followed the river. From that point west to the Pacific, at a point just south of San Diego, where the western terminus had been fixed, the job was much harder. There were no landmarks, and the intervening country was largely unknown. A completely artificial boundary had to be fixed and marked. The Survey was plagued throughout by mismanagement, disorganization and personnel changes, and had to be renewed after the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 added a new slice of land below New Mexico and Arizona. The final report on the work of the Survey was published in 1857-1859, in three volumes and provided an incredible wealth of information about the Native Americans, flora and fauna inhabiting the region.

Three prints by Arthur Schott, artist accompanying the Emory boundary survey across the Southwest. Lot includes "Lipan- Warrior" (seated on a beautiful horse and holding a rifle) , "Noco-Shimatt-Tash-Tanaki, Grizzley Bear. Seminole Chief" (dressed to the nines with flintlock rifle), and "Toro-Mucho. Chief of a Band of Kioways" (wearing a large crucifix). Three prints of Indian chiefs and warriors each on a full quarto sheet. These tinted lithographs were some of the first views made of this region of the United States.

References:

Condition: A

Second print is foxed, others very good.

Estimate: $80 - $100

Sold for: $120

Closed on 3/6/2002

Archived