IDNO

P.87301.VH

Description

Studio portrait of a somewhat emaciated and alarmed looking elderly man with a balding close-cropped head, who from his obvious reluctance and demeanour, and fact that he is seated just like and against exactly the same backdrop as the manacled and similarly shorn P.87301.VH, is a Kai Colo or Vitilevu highlander taken prisoner by Cakobau government forces in the Ba Campaign of 1873. The slit and distended dangling lobe of his left ear shows he has lived in accord with the Fijian religion, with the size of the slit, coupled with his age if he is a prisoner, suggest he is a bete or priest. He is being ridiculed, with a wasekaseka or waseisei necklace made from strips of split and shaped whaletooth strung about his neck, an iulatavatava throwing club thrust in his waistband, a club with vividrasa wrappings of fine magimagi coconut fibre cordage, being held in his hands. He is wearing what looks like a coconut leaf liku skirt with some striped pandanus leaf trimmings. He has lost the upper joint of the little finger of his right hand, most likely as an iloloku or mourning sacrifice in his youth, the practise being so common-place that the little finger is yet called the ilolokunimate, or “death sacrifice”. See P.87313.VH & P.87337.VH for his companions.
Levuka, Circa 1873. [Fergus Clunie, 26/7/2003]

Portrait of a man in an oval vignette.

Physical Condition: Print mounted onto card.

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Ovalau Island; Levuka

Cultural Affliation

Kai Colo [historically Big Head Mountaineers]

Named Person

Photographer

Dufty Brothers, Levuka (Dufty, Francis Herbert)

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa 1873

Collection Name

Von Hugel Collection

Source

Format

Carte-de-visite; Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.87297.VH to P.87320.VH were wrapped in the piece of paper now numbered C512/3/. This envelope came from the Museum’s paper archive envelope VH1/4/7, which has now been re-numbered C512/.

Photographer: This seems to have been taken in the Dufty Brothers’ Levuka studio. The painting in the background is particularly distinctive. [Alex Nadin, 30/9/2003]

Photographer: This print was provisionally attributed to “?Dufty Brothers, Levuka”, but the image is recognisable as Dufty’s Levuka studio through the painted studio backdrop to represent a view out a window with shutters (note the knob added to the shutter that casts a shadow). This appears to be a feature of Dufty’s studio throughout the 1870s, although the idealised landscape ‘view’ changes around 1875-1876. The Photographer, Date, and Place fields have been amended accordingly. [JD 16/3/2012]

Duplicates of this photograph are on the websites ‘www.pictureaustralia.org’ and ‘www.nla.gov.au/catalogue/pictures/’. [A. Nadin, 2/7/2003]

Publication: This image is also held at the National Library of Australia, reference nla.pic-an10975065-9, with the following information:
Creator: Dufty, Francis H., 1846-1910.
Title: Mountaineers from inland Viti Levu (Kai Colo people) [picture] / F.H. Dufty.
Date: between 1870 and 1879.
Extent: 1 photograph : carte de visite ; 8.6 x 5.5 cm., on mount 61 x 116.4 cm.
Context: Part of Dufty, Francis H., 1846-1910. Panorama of Levuka, Fiji, and portraits [picture]
Series: Panorama of Levuka, Fiji, and portraits.
Summary: Photograph of man wearing a wasekaseka split sperm-whale-tooth gorget and holding a gadi pole club.--Information provided by Dr. R. Ewins; RO8/102782.
Notes: Portrait of unidentified man, mounted with a montage of 5 albumen prints forming a panorama, and 11 other carte-de-visite portraits of Fijian and Tongan Chiefs and people.
[Source: www.nla.gov.au, JD 9/3/2012]

Related Image: This print or negative appears to be a unique image within the MAA Photograph Collections. [JD 26/12/2011]

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