This is a phenomenal polychrome painted dance war shield from the Southern Plains Native American Indians dating to the 19th Century. The pieces shows a wetted and stretched Indian tanned buckskin cover over a bent branch wood frame with old muslin cloth held together with sinew sewing and buckskin lacing. The old faded blue and green painted symbols are indiscernible crafted of mineral pigment dyes. There is a section of old fringe-cut antelope hide on the bottom attached with what may have been old hide glue or tree sap. There are two drops of old green and red trade ribbons tied on each side of the shield’s face with buckskin lacing and a strip of mountain lion hide tied onto the center of the shield with the original fur still attached. Provenance: The piece was acquired by the current owner from well-known and respected collector Arnold Marcus Chernoff of Chicago, Illinois in the early 1980’s.