Cho-Sha-Wat-Sah, a Sioux medicine man and referred to as "God Man," is the subject of this albumen cabinet card produced by J. C. Avery of Sedan, Kansas, dating to approximately the 1890s. The portrait is a seated three-quarter-length view rendered with strong tonal contrast against a plain studio backdrop. Avery operated in Sedan, a small city in Chautauqua County in southeastern Kansas, where contact with Indigenous peoples of the southern plains was not uncommon in the post-Civil War era.

The subject sits bare-chested, wearing a fur and feather headdress adorned with a bone or ivory medallion at its crown and trailing long black feathers over one shoulder. A substantial bone hairpipe and claw breastplate drapes across his chest, and a large circular silver peace medal hangs below it. He holds a tomahawk with a white trade-axe blade firmly in both hands, and fringed leather leggings are visible at his lower body.

Cho-Sha-Wat-Sah is credited in some accounts as having played a significant role in persuading Sioux and Cheyenne leaders to unite against General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June 1876, making this a portrait of considerable historical resonance.

The recto bears the gilt imprint "J. C. Avery, Sedan, Kas." with a handwritten notation "10" in pencil. The verso carries the orange-printed studio imprint "From Avery, Sedan, Kans." with the text "Duplicates from this Negative at a reduced rate."