How Native American Tattoos Influenced the Body Art Industry
An exhibit at the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library exploring 300 years of tattooing in New York City begins with Native American tattoos and how the Indigenous Peoples of New York influenced the tattoo industry.
“Native American tattoos are rich in artistry. They also are rich in meaning,” explains a placard labeled “The Power of Tattoos” at the New York Historical Society. “The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and other nations in what is now New York believed tattoos had healing powers, applying them over sore joints or broken bones. Tattoos also were marks of protection, with symbols representing guardian spirits, or Manitous. Because everyone’s life story is unique, their tattoos were unique.”
Among the earliest items featured in the Tattooed New York exhibition are the New-York Historical Society’s Four Indian Kings mezzotints from 1710, which feature portraits of Mohawk and Mohican tribal leaders who traveled to London seeking military aid against the French and their Ojibwe allies.
“Gawkers lined London’s streets. Queen Anne held a reception at St. James’s Palace. Everyone in England, it seemed, wanted to glimpse the three Mohawks and one Mohican popularly known as the ‘Four Indian Kings,’” another section of the historical society's presentation explains. “To the British, the four chiefs were an exotic curiosity, simultaneously praised and scorned as ‘noble savages.’” The portraits of them are by John Verelst, those and later prints of the paintings are some of the earliest images showing Native American tattoos. Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, who was chief of the Maquas (or Mohawks) is seen in the portrait with black linear patterns covering his chest and lower face.
Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow was a Maquas (or Mohawk) chief. This mezzotint from 1710 is one of the oldest items on display at the New-York Historical Society. The “Tattooed New York” exhibit has a number of representations of Native American tattoos.
Visitors to the historical society can also see a 1706 pictograph by a Seneca trader that shows his distinctive serpent and bird tattoos, which were his personal signature. According to information presented in the exhibit, after the arrival of Europeans, the Iroquois, often “signed” documents by drawing their unique tattoos. But, as the exhibit information points out, images of early Native Americans and their body art are seen through a European lens. Those images were often “skewed by an eagerness to sensationalize exotic ‘savages’ or embellished to excite readers and increase book sales,” notes a placard at the exhibit.
Early Native American tattoos were created by scratching or pricking the skin with sharpened bones, branches, or needles and then rubbing soot or crushed minerals into the wound. Many Native American tattoos celebrated accomplishments. While warriors’ tattoos were often featured not only on their bodies, but on the weapons they carried.
Another early item on display at the historical society is a mid-18th century Ojibwe ball club. The carvings on this war club include a panther, three fish, a longer zigzag serpent design, and a tally of either engagements or those killed in battle.