''Sha-có-pay'' is an oil-on-canvas painting from life by American artist George Catlin, who used oil paint to create the art. It depicts an indigenous American named Sha-có-pay (which means "The Six" in the Dakota language), who was

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

of the

Plains Ojibwe The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations band government in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, A ...

. Catlin traveled throughout Western North America and painted Indians at a time when the only contact with Whites was from explorers and traders. The painting shows traditional

clothing such as a beaded buckskins, buckskin shirt, a buffalo robe, buffalo-hide robe, eagle feathers, hair pipes, and a beaded necklace that is unique to the tribes of the northernmost plains (Ojibwe and Cree). The portrait was painted during a trip to Fort Union (North Dakota), Fort Union in 1832. Catlin said:

The chief of that part of the Ojibbeway tribe who inhabit these northern regions … is a man of huge size; with dignity of manner, and pride and vanity, just about in proportion to his bulk. He sat for his portrait in a most beautiful dress, fringed with scalp locks in profusion; which he had snatched, in his early life from his enemies' heads, and now wears as proud trophies and proofs of what his arm has accomplished in battles with his enemies. His shirt of buckskin is beautifully embroidered and painted in curious hieroglyphics, the history of his battles and charts of his life.George Catlin, Catlin, George
Letters and Notes, vol. 1, p. 58, pl. 35
Harvard College Library. 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sha-co-pay Indigenous leaders in Saskatchewan American animists First Nations history Native American leaders Native American people of the Indian Wars Saulteaux people People of Dakota Territory Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) People of the American Old West Pre-Confederation Saskatchewan people Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 19th-century Native Americans Native Americans in art Paintings by George Catlin