Blue Horse, identified on the mount as "Chief of the Shoshoner," is the subject of this albumen cabinet card produced by Elliott and Fry at 55 Baker Street, London. The image was made during Buffalo Bill's Wild West tour of England, almost certainly during the celebrated 1887 engagement, when Cody brought a large contingent of Native performers to London for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The studio's Royal Warrant crest, visible on the reverse, confirms Elliott and Fry's status as photographers to the Crown during this period.

Blue Horse stands in a full-length pose with one hand placed on his hip, wearing a large eagle-feather war bonnet with a beaded brow band, a multi-strand hairpipe breastplate layered over a dark shirt, silver cuff bracelets, and beaded moccasins. He holds a decorated staff in his right hand and carries a folded document, likely a letter of introduction or treaty paper, in his left, while a fur robe drapes at his feet.

Buffalo Bill's 1887 London engagement drew enormous crowds and considerable press attention, and Elliott and Fry produced a series of formal studio portraits of the Native performers that circulated widely as collectible cabinet cards. The reverse carries the printed Elliott and Fry imprint with the Royal Arms device, a penciled notation reading "Mixed 100" and the initials "E.J.," and a printer's imprint at the foot reading "W. Herrmann and Co., Berlin."

From the collection of James Lee Soffer