IDNO

P.52450.VH

Description

Dufty studio portrait of “Maraia - Hf caste [half-caste], Tokolau & white”, meaning descended from a white man and Tokelau [loosely meaning what are now Tuvualu and Kiribati) woman. She is dressed here in quasi-Fijian fashion, with vau hibiscus bast streamers falling from one side of her head, a pair of small white shells tied at her throat by a black velvet or similar band, white masi barkcloth iwabale shoulder sash, and, below her bare breasts, white masi sashing over a curiously patterned barkcloth isulu. She is holding a small bouquet of flowers and sitting on an ornate chaise lounge.
Circa 1875-1876. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003, updated JD 5/12/2011]

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Kiribati; Tuvalu; Ovalau Island; ?Levuka [Tokelau]

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Maraia

Photographer

Dufty Brothers, Levuka (Dufty, Francis Herbert)

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa 1875 - 1876

Collection Name

Von Hugel Collection

Source

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.52422.VH to P.52454.VH were found inside the envelope now numbered C262/2/1/. This envelope was in the drawer now numbered as C262/2/. The drawer is the second of the entire green cabinet which was formerly numbered as batch 150, and now re-numbered C262/.

Context: Maraia is annotated as half-caste “Tokolau & white”, meaning descended from a white man and Tokelau [loosely meaning what are now Tuvualu and Kiribati) woman. “Tokelau” labourers were imported for the Fiji plantations, and Tokelau women, with their less melanesoid features, being favoured as planters’ and traders’ wives or mistresses. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Related Image: This print or negative appears to be a unique image within the MAA Photograph Collections. [JD 26/11/2011]

This catalogue record has been updated with the support of the Getty Grant Program One. [Alex Nadin, 13/2/2003]