2 albumen photographs, each 5 1/2 x 7 3/4 in., mounted side-by-side on the same 15 x 10 1/2 in. mount with ink inscription to lower center reading "Osages" and inked inscriptions under each portrait reading "Shonga-sa-pa. Black Dog. Chief / Age. 28. Height 5.11 1/2. Chest 38," and "Paw-ne-no-pa-zhe. - Not afraid of the Pawnees. Head Chief / Age 40. Height 6ft. Chest. 41 ins," respectively.

Both images are uncredited, though the portrait of Black Dog is elsewhere credited to Charles M. Bell, ca 1877.

Osage Chief Black Dog (1827-1910), sometimes referred to as Black Dog II, was the son of a chief bearing the same name. The younger Black Dog is best known for leading a band of Osages that joined the Confederate States Army via a treaty that promised protection and land, among other things, to the Osages. Black Dog was elected Principal Chief of his people in 1880.

Osage Chief Joseph, Not Afraid of the Pawnees (d. 1883) was born in Kansas and attended a Catholic mission school from the age of 12. He generally worked to broker peace between his people and white settlers, serving two terms as "Governor" of the Osage Nation. Another example of the image of Chief Joseph offered here is curated by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, and it is dated ca 1868.