Plains, Buffalo Hunt Ledger Style Painting

Ponca Tribe

Watercolor on Paper, Pencil | Item 2645

This is an iconic painting and drawing on paper of a hunter chasing down a buffalo. This is a rarely seen example of a buffalo hunt, and while it is not officially a ledger drawing, it is in the style and period of them. The scene is titled above and says “Ponca 101 Ranch” and then below this “Buffalo chase and hunt”. The painted scene is a Native man, likely from the Ponca tribe, hunting down a buffalo with bow and arrows. One arrow is in the buffalo and he’s preparing the shoot the second one. The hunter sits on a spotted, blue horse with a distinctive saddle. The hunter is deck out in a hide shirt, leggings and moccasins along with a feather bonnet on his head. The horse’s tail has 3 eagle feathers tied to it. The buffalo is beautifully rendered in variations of brown. The estimated date on this painting is 1895 – 1910.

The Ponca Tribe is a federally recognized Native American group originally from the Great Plains, now divided into two distinct federally recognized entities: the Ponca Tribe Indians of Oklahoma and the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. They are renowned for their resilience and historical fight for Native American civil rights.

The Miller Brothers 101 Ranch was a 110,000-acre (45,000 ha) cattle ranch in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma before statehood. Located near modern-day Ponca City, it was founded by Colonel George Washington Miller, a veteran of the Confederate Army, in 1893. The 101 Ranch was the birthplace of the 101 Ranch Wild West Show and one of the early focal points of the oil rush in northeastern Oklahoma. It was the largest diversified farm and ranch in America at the time.