Mato-tope

Mato-tope
Mah-to-toh-pe by George Catlin
Bornc. 1784
Died(1837-07-30)July 30, 1837
OccupationChief of the Mandan tribe
Mato-tope holding a lance and wearing painted and quilled shirt: aquatint by Karl Bodmer from the book "Maximilian, Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832–1834". The shirt is made of "bighorn leather".[1]
Mato-Tope, Adorned with the insignia of his warlike deeds.: aquatint by Karl Bodmer from the book "Maximilian, Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832–1834". The six sticks in his hair represent killing six men with a gun and the wooden knife represents he killed a Cheyenne chief with a knife. The split turkey feather is said to stand for an arrow wound.[2] The hand on Four Bears' torso may indicate that he once seized an enemy for his comrades to kill.[3]
Facsimile of the Robe of Mah-to-toh-pa - Mandan by George Catlin showing Mato-Tope victories
Karl Bodmer facsimile of ledger art showing Four Bears (at left) in a duel with a Cheyenne chief. The hand wound of the knife entitled him to pose with a wooden knife, as seen on the pictures of Catlin and Bodmer.[4] The realistic work of both artists inspired Four Bears to make this true-to-life drawing of his feat.[5]

Mato-tope (also known as Ma-to-toh-pe or Four Bears, from mato "bear" and tope "four") (c. 1784[6] - July 30, 1837) was the second chief of the Mandan tribe to be known as "Four Bears," a name he earned after charging the Assiniboine tribe during battle with the strength of four bears. Four Bears lived in the first half of the 19th century on the upper Missouri River in what is now North Dakota. Four Bears was a favorite subject of artists, painted by George Catlin and Karl Bodmer.

  1. ^ Maximilian zu Wied, Prince: People of the First Man. Life Among the Plains Indians in Their Final Days of Glory. The Firsthand Account of Prince Maximilian's Expedition up the Missouri River, 1833-34. New York, 1976, p. 202.
  2. ^ Maximilian zu Wied, Prince: People of the First Man. Life Among the Plains Indians in Their Final Days of Glory. The Firsthand Account of Prince Maximilian's Expedition up the Missouri River, 1833-34. New York, 1976, p. 192.
  3. ^ Bowers, Alfred W.: Mandan Social and Ceremonial Organization. Moscow, 1991, p. 73.
  4. ^ Bowers, Alfred W.: Mandan Social and Ceremonial Organization. Moscow, 1991, p. 74.
  5. ^ Ewers, John C.: "Early White Influence Upon Plains Indian Painting". Indian Life on the Upper Missouri. Norman and London, 1988, pp. 98-109.
  6. ^ Libby, Orin G.: Bad Gun (Rushing-After-The-Eagle). Collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, Vol. 2 (1908), pp. 465-470, p. 465.