IDNO

P.99845.VH

Description

Studio portrait of Yadi Litia Samanunu, principal wife of Ratu Seru Cakobau, Vunivalu of Bau, whom he married on becoming a Christian in the mid 1850s. Litia (Lydia) was her Christian name.
Circa 1869. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Physical Condition: Image cropped by circular mask. Print mounted onto card.

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Ovalau Island; Levuka

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Yadi Litia Samanunu, principal wife of Ratu Seru Cakobau, Vuniivalu of Bau, Tui Viti (formerly spelt as Thakombau)

Photographer

Dufty Brothers, Levuka

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa 1869

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.

Publication: A duplicate carte-de-visite is held at the National Library of Australia, reference nla.pic-an10975065-2, with the following information:
Creator: Dufty, Francis H., 1846-1910.
Title: Adi Litia Samanunu, the wife of Cakobau [picture] / F.H. Dufty.
Date: between 1870 and 1879.
Extent: 1 photograph : carte de visite ; 7.3 x 5 cm, on mount 61 x 116.4 cm.
Context: Part of Dufty, Francis H., 1846-1910. Panorama of Levuka, Fiji, and portraits [picture]
Series: Panorama of Levuka, Fiji, and portraits.
Notes: Mounted with a montage of 5 albumen prints forming a panorama, and 11 other carte-de-visite portraits of Fijian and Tongan Chiefs and people.
[Source: www.nla.gov.au, JD 9/3/2012]

Photographer: This print was provisionally attributed to “?Dufty Brothers, Levuka”, but a related print is published on the National Library of Australia website with the attribution to Francis Dufty. The Photographer field has been amended accordingly. [JD 9/3/2012]

Publication: A duplicate carte-de-visit is held at the British Museum, reference Oc,A3.96, with the following information:
Production person: Photographed by Francis Herbert Dufty (biographical details | all objects)
Production place: Photographed in Fiji (all objects)
(Oceania,Polynesia,Fiji)
Date: 1870s
Description: Photograph (black and white) from an album; carte de visite; portrait of a Fijian woman, Adi Litia Samanunu, wife of the chief of Bau, sitting in front of a neutral backdrop; she wears a necklace, and a painted bark cloth wrap around her waist; Fiji.
Albumen print
Inscriptions: Lydia, Queen of Fiji.
Curator's comments: From an album of 176 photographs in carte-de-visite format, by various photographers, including Lindt, Damman, Pulman and others, depicting depicting peoples of the Pacific, as well as Africa, Asia and South America..
Related image/production/date: The National Library of Australia has the same image in their collection (nla.pic-an10975065-2), the caption for which reads: "Dufty, Francis H., 1846-1910. Adi Litia Samanunu, the wife of Cakobau [picture] between 1870 and 1879. 1 photograph : carte de visite ; 7.3 x 5 cm, on mount 61 x 116.4 cm."
[Source: www.britishmuseum.org, JD 9/3/2012]

This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Fund. [A. Nadin, 10/9/2003]