American Art Collaborative

“The most distinguished ball-player of the Choctaw nation, represented in his ball-play dress, with his ball-sticks in his hands. In every ball-play of these people, it is a rule of the play, that no man shall wear moccasins on his feet, or any other dress than his breech-cloth around his waist, with a beautiful bead belt, and a ‘tail,’ made of white horsehair or quills, and a ‘mane’ on the neck, of horsehair dyed of various colors.” George Catlin executed this work at Fort Gibson, Arkansas Territory, in 1834. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 49, 1841; reprint 1973)