IDNO

D.99757.VH

Description

Tinted and somewhat fanciful sketch by ?Theodor Kleinschmidt of a Fijian chief carrying a war club in his left hand and an iulatavatava throwing club in his right. He has a batinivuaka or boar tusk pendant at his throat, two qato or lavei trochus shell bracelets about his upper left arm, and is wearing a liku skirt. Circa 1877?. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

?Kleinschmidt, Theodor [Original Artist]

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa ?1877

Collection Name

von Hügel Collection

Source

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.99725.VH to P.99758.VH were in the belted folder now numbered C539/1/. This was formerly kept in paper archive Large Box G; VH1/4/5. It has now been transferred to the photo archive. The lists describing the contents of this box have been returned to the Paper Archive.

Biographical Information: Theodor Kleinschmidt (6 March 1834, Wolfhagen – 10 April 1881, Utuaia, Bismarck Archipelago) was a German trader, explorer and naturalist.
Kleinschmidt emigrated to the United States in 1843, and started a business in Saint Louis (Missouri). After going bankrupt he left for Australia then on to Fiji to flee his creditors. But his trade with the natives was not brilliant, in particular because of the economic crisis of 1874. The Museum Godeffroy of Hamburg then offered him work to collect natural history specimens, fauna and flora, in the Solomon Islands and New Hebrides, territories largely unexplored hitherto. He was assassinated by natives in 1881. [Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Kleinschmidt, JD 18/2/2014]

Related Image: This print or negative appears to be a unique image within the MAA Photograph Collections. [JD 9/1/2012]

This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Fund. [A. Nadin, 4/9/2003]