A young Native American Nex Perce man stands in full-length portrait on this cabinet card produced by Hanson's Elite Studio of Grangeville, Idaho, almost certainly dating to the 1890s given the studio's known period of operation in Idaho County. Grangeville sits at the heart of Nez Perce territory, and the subject's regalia, posture, and studio setting place this firmly within the tradition of formal Indigenous portraiture produced in the region during that era.
The subject wears a dark fur cap with a feather, long hair falling past his shoulders, and large circular ear ornaments. Multiple strands of shell or bone beads layer across his chest, and his outfit combines a fringed leather upper garment with a plaid trade-cloth lower wrap and beaded leggings. He holds a decorated staff or bow at his side, stands on a striped blanket, and a large animal pelt is draped over a prop to his left against a painted mountain backdrop.
Grangeville, established in Camas Prairie country, was a commercial hub serving the surrounding Nez Perce homeland throughout the late nineteenth century, making this studio portrait a document of regional Indigenous life produced on the community's own doorstep.
The reverse bears a handwritten catalog notation "6751" in the upper right corner; the front mount imprint reads "Hanson Photo... Elite Studio, Grangeville, Idaho."
From the collection of James Lee Soffer
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