Iron Thunder is depicted full-length in this albumen cabinet card, produced by David Frances Barry at his West Superior, Wisconsin studio. Barry, one of the foremost photographers of Lakota and Plains Indian subjects in the late nineteenth century, issued an extensive commercial series of portraits from this imprint, advertised on the reverse as "Photographs of All Noted Indians, Catalogues Mailed on Application." The portrait dates to the period of Barry's West Superior operation, active during the early 1890s.

Iron Thunder, a Miniconjou/Two Kettle who fought at 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn, stands before a painted studio backdrop with a simulated rock formation to his right and a rustic branch prop to his left. He wears a light-colored high-collared shirt with a bone hairpipe breastplate, a dark wool trade blanket wrapped at the waist, and beaded moccasins. His hair falls in two braids over his shoulders, and a single feather, white with a dark tip, rises from the crown of his head. He holds a tomahawk or pipe-axe across his body with both hands.

A printed label affixed to the recto mount reads "Iron Thunder" in serif typeface. The reverse bears the Barry imprint in red ink centered on an engraved portrait of Chief Gall, with handwritten notations "Iron Thunder" in graphite and the numerals "349" struck through above "115" in the upper right corner.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer