Medium:
Dimensions:
Watercolor on paper
28.1cm x 20cm (11 1/16" x 7 7/8"), Accurate
Fold of blanket reads: Sketch by W.W. Major
Bottom of portrait reads: Kono'sa chief of Paravants near Fillmore
Owner: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
Since William Major departed from his mission to England from New York in 1853, it is likely he sold the paintings for goods or money to live and travel.
May 4th (1852) was a day spent communicating with the local Indian Chiefs. Chief Kanosh was given a certificate by Brigham Young stating:
To whom it may concern.
This may certify that we have had a talk with Canosha [Kanosh], the chief of the Parvante Indians, and we find him and his Band friendly to white people. They have invariably manifested a friendly and peaceable disposition towards those friendly and peaceable disposition towards those who have located in Parvan valley, and are anxious to cultivate the kind feelings of all who settle in their neighborhood. I therefore recommend him to the sympathies and charitable feelings of all to whom he may present this certificante.
Filmore City Brigham Young
May 4th 1852 (An Intimate Chronicle, The Journals of William Clayton, ed. Smith, 405).
On that day, Wilford Woodruff wrote, "Brother Major our Artist took the likeness of an Indian Chief" (Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 4 May 1852, 4:137).