IDNO

P.98954.GCUM

Description

“Back wall of Dining room, Government House, Nasova, Fiji. Fijian weapons, yangona bowls & pottery.” [Gordon Cumming’s annotation, JD 6/1/2012]

As decorated by A.P. Maudslay, private secretary to the governor, Sir Arthur Gordon, in October 1875.
The walls are papered with gatuvakaviti barkcloth. Above hang three tanoa bowls for yaqona. The next row consists of war clubs, centring on a priest’s or chief’s kinikini, the only exceptions being two long voce or canoe paddles, third from the end in both cases.
The bottom row centres upon a kuro cooking pot from Ra, northeast Vitilevu, sitting upon three stone sue or potstands in the traditional Fijian way. A smaller kuro is at far right. The other vessels are saqa or saqaniwai water jars. The two little buildings are not models, but miniature burekalou, or spirithouses, the components of which are elaborately wrapped in magimagi, or coconut fibre cordage. [Fergus Clunie, 16/10/2003]

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Ovalau Island; Near Levuka; Nasova

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

A. P. Maudslay; Arthur Gordon

Photographer

None

Collector / Expedition

?Gordon Cumming, Constance Frederica

Date

post October 1875

Collection Name

Gordon Cumming Collection

Source

Gordon Cumming, Constance Frederica

Format

Print Black & White

Primary Documentation

Other Information

This album has been transferred from CUMMA’s Object Collections (original accession number Z 4152), into the Photographic Collections, and catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Program One.

P.98869.GCUM to P.99045.GCUM are in A.169.GCUM.

CUMAA Exhibition: This album open at this page was displayed in Collected Sights in the section, The Collections with the descriptive label: “The personal album of artist Constance Gordon Cumming who visited Fiji in 1875 as a guest of Sir Arthur Gordon, the British Governor. The album contains carte-de-visite, cabinet cards and vignettes of her family, friends and acquaintances, studio photographs from Fiji, and photographic reproductions of her fine watercolours.” [A. Nadin, 16/10/2003]

Bibliographical Reference: See ‘The Fiji journals of Baron Anatole von Hugel, 1875-1877’, pp. 175-178. [Fergus Clunie, 16/10/2003]

Related Image: Same image held at the Royal Collection Trust, reference Albumen print | RCIN 2580917, and captioned as: "Display of Fijian weaponry  1881.
Photograph of display of Fijian weapons or tools on a wall hung with decorated textiles, inside Government House.
Provenance - The Album 'Cruise of H.M.S. Bacchante 1879-1882. Volume IV, Australia, Fiji' was compiled by the Reverend J N Dalton (1839-1931) and presented to King George V." [Source: https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/search#/22/collection/2580908/fijian-police-nasova, JD 04/04/2017]

Biographical Information: Reverend (later Canon) John Neale Dalton KCVO CMG (24 September 1839 Margate, Kent – 28 July 1931) was a Church of England clergyman and author. He was a chaplain to Queen Victoria, a Canon of Windsor, and tutor and chaperone / companion to the future King George V and his brother Prince Albert Victor from c.1869 until 1882. [Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Neale_Dalton, JD 4/5/2017]


Related Image: This print or negative appears to be the original image at MAA from which the associated photographs have been derived from. [JD 12/11/2011]