"Powatch". 4211.  Seated half-length studio portrait. Oval vignetted albumen cabinet card. Denver, Colorado: W. H. Jackson Photograph and Publishing Co., ca. late 1870s-early 1880s. Titled in negative. Jackson's imprint to mount verso. 

A detailed half-length studio portrait of a Ute man identified in Jackson's negative as "Powatch." The subject wears a dark shirt, with his hair styled in long braids wrapped in strips of otter or beaver fur. He wears a beaded necklace suspending a large circular shell gorget at his throat, with brass armbands visible on his sleeves.

William Henry Jackson (1843-1942) produced some of the most comprehensive and definitive visual documentation of the Ute people of Colorado and Utah, photographing delegations, tribal leaders, and families both during his fieldwork with the Hayden Geological Survey (1870-1878) and subsequently through his commercial Denver studio. Individual studio cabinet portraits bearing Jackson's Denver backmark are scarce and highly prized by collectors of Western photography.

[Native Americans, Ute, Ute Nation, Colorado, Denver Colorado, William Henry Jackson, W. H. Jackson, Hayden Survey, Fur Hair Wraps, Shell Gorget, Trade Blankets, American West, Frontier History] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Cabinet Cards, Albumen Photographs, William Henry Jackson, Western Photographers, Native American Portraiture]

Outstanding condition overall, with rich tones, sharp clarity, and excellent contrast throughout. The card mount is flat and clean, showing light, even age toning and minor edge rubbing.