This is an exquisite bronze bust of a Native American warrior chief. He stares at the beholder, wild and bold, with an air of spiritual resilience. His hair is adorned with braids that are wrapped with strips of deer hide coated with a turquoise patina. A long feather lost in the back of his hair stretches towards gravity also finished in a turquoise patina. He wears a bone breastplate which was a popular chest ornament or armor. Since the hair-pipe bones were difficult and expensive to obtain, the number of bones in the plate often indicated the wealth of a warrior. Such breastplates were worn on occasion in battle, but could be penetrated easily by an arrow or a bullet, so they were mainly a decorative or medicine item. The sculpture was molded using the archaic method of lost-wax casting with skin tones finished in a brown patina stain for perpetuation. The chief is mounted upon a black marble and is signed C.M Russell