IDNO

P.99831.VH

Description

P.99827.VH to P.99831.VH; Photographs of A.J.L. Gordon’s sketch of Yadi Samanunu, a chief’s daughter, drawn at Nabulibuligone in the highlands of Vitilevu in 1875. Yadi Samanunu is wearing a liku skirt and has a qato bracelet made from a sici or trochus shell above the left elbow, and a necklace with large beads of unknown material round her neck. Her lime-bleached hair is dressed in the unmarried woman’s style in the highlands. From the look of her, she may, as a chief's daughter, be tabusiga - literally “forbidden the sun”, meaning kept indoors during daylight hours to lighten her complexion. She is sitting next to a matadravu or hearth bounded by squared hardwood slabs, in which a kuro cooking pot from the Ra or northeast Vitilevu coast is steaming, perched upon sue potstands. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003, updated JD 7/3/2012]

Physical Condition: Print mounted onto card.

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Yadi Samanunu

Photographer

Gordon, Arthur J.L. [Artist]

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

post 1875

Collection Name

von Hügel Collection

Source

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.99726.VH to P.100050.VH were in the belted folder now numbered C539/3/. 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.

Bibliographical Reference: See A.J.L. Gordon, 1875. An Account of Mr Walter Carew’s Tour of the Island of Viti Levu, Domodomo, 1986, 4 (2), 55-81. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Named Person: It is noted that Yadi Samanunu’s Christian name is Litia for print P.99835.VH. The Description and Named Person field have been amended accordingly. [JD 7/3/2012]

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