| Medium: | oil on canvas |
| Size: | 20 x 14 in (51 x 36 cm) |
| Inscription: | erroneously signed l/r "Hill" |
| Verso: | l/r "Schonchis Rock / Lava beds in distance" in Schafer's characteristic block printing hand. |
| Provenance: | With Grogan and Company, Boston 23 February 2014 (withdrawn) |
| Reproductions: | Grogan and Company sale 140 catalog lot 359 |
| Attribution: | The painting does not look very much like the work of Thomas Hill, and the signature is unconvincing. However, the composition, style, and palette, are all typical of Schafer's work. Moreover, the printed hand of the verso inscription is almost certainly that of Schafer. In further support of this attribution, Schafer is known to have painted several other similar scenes in the lava beds, such as Indian Head in the Lava Beds, Indians in the Lava Beds, and Morning on the lava beds. It therefore seems likely that the signature is erroneous. |
| Site: | Schonchin's Rock, in what is currently known as the Lava Beds National Monument, California. The rock is named for John Schonchin, a native American executed at the time of the Modoc Wars. |
| Description: | The named rock on a steep slope at the right dominates the sunset scene, with a distant Modoc encampment in the valley below. Smoke rises from several tepees. A crescent moon appears in the sky above. |
| Identification: | Title from verso inscription. |
| In index(es): | Title list, Indian encampments as incidental subjects, Indians in desert locales, miscellaneous other well-known landmarks, paintings probably attributable to Schafer |
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