Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Row
Medium
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Accession Number
NPG.92.149
Tags
About this artwork
âHendrickâ Tejonihokarawa was one of the Mohawk leaders, or sachems, who traveled to Queen Anneâs court in the spring of 1710 to request British support in territorial battles against the French. He is often confused with sachem Hendrick Peters Theyanoguin (c. 1691â1755). Recent scholarship discusses these two powerful individualsâ joint efforts to negotiate a place for the Mohawk and the Iroquois Confederacy in the volatile North Atlantic world.
Art Historical Context
This striking 1710 print by English engraver John Simon portrays “Hendrick” Tejonihokarawa, a respected Mohawk sachem, during a pivotal diplomatic journey to London. Tejonihokarawa one of four Indigenous leaders who traveled across the Atlantic to meet Queen Anne and seek British military aid against French forces threatening Mohawk and Iroquois lands. The image captures him in traditional attire, including a cape and hatchet, set against a forested backdrop that evokes both his homeland and the formal portrait conventions of early eighteenth-century Europe. As a print rather than a unique pa...