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Source Description

Extracts from Alfred Jacob Miller’s original text, which accompanied his images of Native Americans, are included below for reference. "With the aid of two or three of the hunters the Buffalo is raised from his fallen position and places in a sitting posture, in order to take that most superlative morceaux, the "Hump rib." A cut is made longitudinally with a knife, the skin on each side flapped down on the shoulder,- and a trapper to the right in the sketch is receiveing a tomahawk in order to separate the spinal process. After this valuable piece is secured, the fleece and side ribes follow, and the balance, if there is no pressure in the camp, is left for the expectant wolves, who appear to claim it as their perquisite, and often are sitting at a distance watching their interests in the matter. The horse to the left is new to the business and is alarmed at the smell of blood and carnage. Directly in front of him is a Sumpter mule, equipped to bear the meat to camp." A.J. Miller, extracted from "The West of Alfred Jacob Miller" (1837).In July 1858 William T. Walters commissioned 200 watercolors at twelve dollars apiece from Baltimore born artist Alfred Jacob Miller. These paintings were each accompanied by a descriptive text, and were delivered in installments over the next twenty-one months and ultimately were bound in three albums. Transcriptions of field-sketches drawn during the 1837 expedition that Miller had undertaken to the annual fur-trader's rendezvous in the Green River Valley (in what is now western Wyoming), these watercolors are a unique record of the closing years of the western fur trade.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
4999
label
Taking the Hump Rib
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
4999
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
Taking the Hump Rib
description
Extracts from Alfred Jacob Miller’s original text, which accompanied his images of Native Americans, are included below for reference. "With the aid of two or three of the hunters the Buffalo is raised from his fallen position and places in a sitting posture, in order to take that most superlative morceaux, the "Hump rib." A cut is made longitudinally with a knife, the skin on each side flapped down on the shoulder,- and a trapper to the right in the sketch is receiveing a tomahawk in order to separate the spinal process. After this valuable piece is secured, the fleece and side ribes follow, and the balance, if there is no pressure in the camp, is left for the expectant wolves, who appear to claim it as their perquisite, and often are sitting at a distance watching their interests in the matter. The horse to the left is new to the business and is alarmed at the smell of blood and carnage. Directly in front of him is a Sumpter mule, equipped to bear the meat to camp." A.J. Miller, extracted from "The West of Alfred Jacob Miller" (1837).In July 1858 William T. Walters commissioned 200 watercolors at twelve dollars apiece from Baltimore born artist Alfred Jacob Miller. These paintings were each accompanied by a descriptive text, and were delivered in installments over the next twenty-one months and ultimately were bound in three albums. Transcriptions of field-sketches drawn during the 1837 expedition that Miller had undertaken to the annual fur-trader's rendezvous in the Green River Valley (in what is now western Wyoming), these watercolors are a unique record of the closing years of the western fur trade.
provenance
William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1858-1860, by commission; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1858-1860
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
watercolors (paintings)
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
21.1
height
31.3
dimensionsRaw
8 5/16 x 12 5/16 in. (21.1 x 31.3 cm)
Source extras
inscriptions
[Monogram] Lower right: AJMiller
med
watercolor on paper
creator_ids
4486
collection_ids
EAN
exhibition_ids
3081
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
af4545f048885f17