Ames Hayes, identified by inscription on the reverse, stands in full-length portrait in this cabinet card made by E. G. Cummings of Lewiston, Idaho, and dated July 12, 1895. The subject is a young Native American, likely Nez Perce given the Lewiston location, photographed in a formal studio setting against a painted backdrop with a draped prop stand at left.

Hayes wears an elaborately beaded belt with a large circular medallion, multiple strands of bone or shell hairpipe necklaces cascading to the waist, a dark cloth garment with fringe at the shoulders, and beaded moccasins. Two braids frame the face, a single feather rises from the hair, and a beaded bag or panel with bold geometric diamond designs rests against the prop stand, with a fur hide and fringed textile also visible.

Lewiston, Idaho, sits at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers on the Nez Perce homeland, and E. G. Cummings operated a studio there during the 1890s, producing portraits of both settler and Indigenous subjects in the region.

The reverse bears an applied paper label reading "Hayes Ames, July 12, 1895" and a handwritten inscription in ink reading "Mr. Ames Hayes / July 12, 1895 / Idaho," with a catalog number "400" in the upper right corner.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer