IDNO

P.87363.VH

Description

Studio portrait of a Kai Colo or Vitilevu highlander. See P.87319.VH, P.87320. [Fergus Clunie, 26/7/2003]

Cropped studio portrait of a bearded Kai Colo or Vitilevu highlander of the Noiemalu (Wainimala) with a traditional hairstyle of long hair below his ears plaited into long tobe plaits. The head and shoulders portrait has been cropped from a group portrait of three men, and the shoulder of the man on the left is still visible. A portion of the studio painted backdrop and curtain can be seen in the background.
Circa 1873-1874. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003, from record P.4117.ACH1, updated JD 5/11/2011]

Physical Condition: This image has been cropped from a larger group portrait. See P.99980.VH.

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Ovalau Island; Levuka; Viti Levu

Cultural Affliation

Kai Colo [historically Big Head Mountaineers]

Named Person

Photographer

Dufty Brothers, Levuka

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa 1875

Collection Name

Von Hugel Collection

Source

Format

Photomechanical Print

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.87352.VH to P.87387.VH were in the envelope now numbered C512/6/. 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 image was provisionally attributed to “Dufty Brothers, Levuka”, but Dufty’s Levuka studio is recognisable 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). (See uncropped duplicate image, P.87320.VH.) This appears to be a feature of Dufty’s studio thorughout the 1870s, although the landscape ‘view’ changes around 1875-1876. The brocade curtain patterned with a floral design framed by a diamond-shaped outline is also distinct to Dufty’s Levuka studio. The Photographer, Date, and Place fields have been amended accordingly. [JD 13/3/2012]

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