IDNO

P.87265.VH

Description

Studio portrait of a Fijian man dressed in war or ceremonial costume. He has a decorative comb in his hair and white barkcloth vesa bandages bracing the muscles of his arms above the elbow. At his throat is an itaubebatinivuaka or boar tusk pendant, imported from Tanna in Vanuatu by the blackbirders or labour traders, and all the rage amongst Fijian men in the 1870s. His abdomen is swathed in white barkcloth, and he has a black likusausauwai skirt over his malo loincloth. Fringed black vesasausauwai cordage braces his leg muscles below the knee. His club is a kiakavo dance club. Note the base of the photographer’s clamp behind him.
Levuka, 1870s. [Fergus Clunie, 26/7/2003]

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Ovalau Island; Levuka

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Dufty Brothers, Levuka

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa 1870 - 1880

Collection Name

Von Hugel Collection

Source

Format

Photomechanical Print

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.87222.VH to P.87277.VH were found loose in the Museum’s paper archive envelope, VH1/4/7, which has now been re-numbered C512/.

Related Image: A set of the same or similar woodburytype from Dufty portraits are in the collections of the Pitt Rivers Museum, some of which are named, see reference 1998.237 [E. Edwards]

Photographer: This image was previously provisionally attributed to Dufty, but the curtain, chair, and studio wall with skirting board are identifiable as being of Francis Dufty’s studio, Levuka. (Compare with P.70157.ACH2.) [JD 28/3/2012]

Related Image: This print or negative appears to be a unique image within the MAA Photograph Collections. [JD 23/12/2011]

This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Program One. [A Nadin, 2/7/2003]