IDNO

P.87337.VH

Description

Dufty studio portrait, taken on the same occasion as P.87313.VH and P.87301.VH, of a Kai Colo or Vitilevu highlander convict, with close-cropped head and, incongruously, a tabua sperm whale tooth draped derisively round his neck, wearing a pleated voivoi or striped pandanus leaf liku overskirt, and holding a wakavividrasa war club. Like P.87313.VH and P.87301.VH, he is a prisoner of war, probably taken by the Cakobau government during the Ba Campaign of 1873. The form of his ear lobe ornament (if indeed it is his own one) suggests that he is a priest. See P.99956.VH.
Circa 1873-1874. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Ovalau Island; Levuka

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Dufty Brothers, Levuka (Dufty, Francis Herbert)

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa 1873 - 1874

Collection Name

Von Hugel Collection

Source

Format

Carte-de-visite; Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.87321.VH to P.87342.VH were in the envelope now numbered C512/4/. 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 related print with the same background, P.87301.VH, is published on the National Library of Australia website with the attribution to Francis Dufty. The Photographer and Place fields have been amended accordingly. [JD 9/3/2012]

Photographer: This print 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]

Related Image: This print or negative appears to be the original image at MAA from which the associated photographs have been derived from. [JD 27/12/2011]

This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Program One. [Alex Nadin, 30/9/2003]