Joseph Henry Sharp's Crow Encampment is among the highlights of Cowan's American Indian and Western Art sale on September 20 in Cincinnati.
The painting dates from 1902 and details an encampment of plains Indians. It comes to auction with a $100,000 high estimate. Sharp (1859-1953) was a well-known painter of Native American portraits and cultural life.
In 1905 he was commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt to paint portraits of the 200 surviving Indian warriors of the Battle of Little Bighorn. Pueblo Drummer, another Sharp, also features in the sale, with an estimate of $40,000-60,000.
 Sharp rarely painted plains encampment scenes |
Sharp regularly commands prices in the six-figure range. Squaw Winter holds his auction record - it sold for $1.1m in 2004.
Graydon Sikes, director of painting and prints at Cowan's, stated: "We are thrilled to once again be offering a selection of important Western paintings by artists with Cincinnati roots. A pair of oils by Joseph Henry Sharp are expected to garner quite a bit of interest".
The auction also features the second half of the Marvin L Lince collection of American Indian weapons and accoutrements - a collection which includes a Great Lakes pipe tomahawk with a brass and silver inlay that is expected to sell for $50,000-70,000.
A Red River Metis quilled hide knife sheath with a dag knife also brings a considerable estimate of $45,000-55,000.
Danica Farnand, director of American art at Cowan's, said: "The auction is filled with exceptional weaponry and beadwork which I feel will carry excitement through the sale."
The Paul Fraser Collection has available this genuine strand of hair from the famed Apache chief Geronimo. For more news from the art world please sign up to our free weekly newsletter
