McKenney and Hall, 1836-1844 - OCHE-FINCECO, from History of the Indian Tribes of North America - ca. 1843 - T-Shirt

This hand-colored lithograph portrays Oche-Finceco, a Native American leader, as a three-quarter bust set against a plain cream field.

Visual Elements & Composition

Cream fills most of the plate, giving the figure room to stand out. His slate-blue coat takes up much of the lower frame, with rust-colored ruffled trim at the edges. A diamond-pattern sash crosses his chest, and a white cravat with dotted edging sits at the throat. The skin tones are warm and restrained. A rectangular caption band runs beneath the portrait with the lettering "PUBLISHED BY DANIEL RICE & JAMES G. CLARK, PHILA.", which anchors the image as a printed plate.

Meaning & Symbolism

The portrait comes from History of the Indian Tribes of North America, produced between 1836 and 1844 by Thomas L. McKenney, former Superintendent of Indian Trade, and author James Hall. The project commissioned portraits of delegates who visited Washington, D.C., during a period when federal policy was displacing their nations. Each plate functioned as a record of diplomacy and a lasting document of individual leaders. The series also reflects the paternalistic assumptions of its time, and it remains an essential primary source for understanding nineteenth-century Indigenous history and the art of the period.

Where the Portrait Sits on This Tee

A bust portrait suits the front of a shirt because the figure's shoulders and chest line up with the wearer's own. The sash crosses the chest the same way a strap or collar line does, so the image reads as a presence worn at eye level. The cream ground keeps the plate's paper tone intact, so the lithograph reads as an object from the 1840s rather than a modern graphic.