"Asseola, A Seminole Leader" by Charles Bird King

"Asseola, A Seminole Leader" by Charles Bird King

C.1865-1870

Hand-Painted Lithograph

This nineteenth-century Rice, Rutter & Co. hand-painted lithograph from the period between 1865 and 1870, titled "Asseola, A Seminole Leader," provides a meticulous visual record of Charles Bird King's iconic life portrait capturing a legendary resistance figure. The full-length portrait depicts Asseola, better known historically as Osceola, standing in a resolute pose with his left hand gripping the barrel of a long flintlock rifle resting on the ground. He wears a knee-length, green calico trade shirt decorated with a repeating small floral or leaf pattern and finished with a red fringed hem, tied at the waist by a wide red sash. His chest is adorned with a prominent stack of three large, semi-circular silver gorgets layered over a patterned neckerchief and crossed by a beaded blue and white bandolier strap. Red wool leggings with intricate blue garter ties protect his legs, while a vibrant red turban topped with sweeping black and white ostrich plumes crowns his head. A backdrop featuring traditional Indigenous dwellings on a distant shoreline completes the landscape, anchored above the uppercase title block.

This composition belongs to a broader American historical record dating back to the federal treaty eras of the 1820s and 1830s, where Indigenous leaders and tribal delegates were visually documented during diplomatic missions to Washington, D.C.. Published in 1986 as part of a modern commemorative edition of the landmark book History of the Indian Tribes of North America by Thomas Loraine McKenney and James Hall, prints like this hold monumental historical importance because they serve as the primary surviving visual record of these pre-Civil War individuals. The original oil portrait archives, including those by Charles Bird King and the Western galleries of John Mix Stanley, were tragically destroyed in the catastrophic 1865 Smithsonian fire. As a result, these meticulously prepared volume reproductions stand as irreplaceable ethnographic artifacts, documenting traditional attire, customs, and political figures from a critical era of Native American history.

Dimensions: H 11”x 8 ½”W

Condition: In very good condition