IDNO

P.99955.VH

Description

Studio portrait of an untamed Kai Colo or Vitilevu highland chief holding a vunikau club and wearing a malo loincloth with a front flap and long maloyara train indicative of his rank. This man is most likely the model for R. Atkinson’s engraving of a Vitilevu mountain chief (see F.Clunie, Fijian Weapons & Warfare, plate 20). Circa 1869-1871
See P.87343.VH, P.87344.VH. Also P.87318.VH, P.87339.VH, P.87318.VH, P.99979.VH, P.99984.VH, P.4116.ACH1. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Studio portrait of a seated untamed “big head” Kai Colo or Viti Levu highlander wearing a malo loincloth, and with his hairdressed in a traditional style that have yet, in their case, to be censored by the Wesleyans.
The man wears a batinivuaka boar tusk pendant with what looks like shell-beaded strings attached, and qato or lavei bracelets, cut from the sici or trochus shell, above the elbow. The man is seated in a studio chair and holding a club.
Circa 1869-1871. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003, from record P.4116.ACH1, updated JD 5/11/2011]

Physical Condition: Print mounted onto card.

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Ovalau Island; Levuka

Cultural Affliation

Kai Colo

Named Person

Photographer

Dufty Brothers, Levuka (Dufty, Francis Herbert)

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa 1869 - 1871

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: This man is most likely the model for R. Atkinson’s engraving of a Vitilevu mountain chief (see F.Clunie, Fijian Weapons & Warfare, plate 20). [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Publication: This image is published on the websites ‘www.pictureaustralia.org’ and ‘www.nla.gov.au/catalogue/pictures/’. [A. Nadin, 2/7/2003]

Publication: A carte-de-visite of the same man (and duplicate of P.87204., P.99981.VH, and P.109436.) is also held at the National Library of Australia, reference nla.pic-an10975065-6, with the following information:
Creator: Dufty, Francis H., 1846-1910.
Title: Mountaineers from inland Viti Levu (Kai Colo people) [picture] / F.H. Dufty.
Date: between 1870 and 1879.
Extent: 1 photograph : carte de visite ; 8.6 x 5.5 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.
Summary: The sitter is wearing a wig of human hair, a warrior's boar-tusk necklace, trochus shell armlets, and holds a waka rootstock club across his thighs.--Information provided by Dr. R. Ewins, RO8/102782.
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]

Related Image: This commercial photograph appears more than once in the MAA Collections. There is no original negative. [JD 25/1/2012]

This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Fund. [A. Nadin, 29/9/2003]