IDNO

P.99956.VH

Description

Studio portrait of a shorn Kai Colo or Vitilevu highland convict - probably taken prisoner by the Cakobau Government during the Ba Campaign of 1873. Circa 1873/74. See P.87337.VH, P.87301.VH, P.99957.VH and P.99958.VH. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Dufty studio portrait, taken on the same occasion as P.87313.VH and P.87301.VH, of a Kai Colo or Vitilevu highlander convict, with close-cropped head and, incongruously, a tabua sperm whale tooth draped derisively round his neck, wearing a pleated voivoi or striped pandanus leaf liku overskirt, and holding a wakavividrasa war club. Like P.87313.VH and P.87301.VH, he is a prisoner of war, probably taken by the Cakobau government during the Ba Campaign of 1873. The form of his ear lobe ornament (if indeed it is his own one) suggests that he is a priest. See P.99956.VH.
Circa 1873-1874. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003, from record P.87337.VH, JD 27/12/2011]

Physical Condition: Print mounted onto card.

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Ovalau Island; Levuka; Vitilevu Highland

Cultural Affliation

Kai Colo

Named Person

Photographer

Dufty Brothers, Levuka

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa 1873 - 1874

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.

Photographer: This print was provisionally attributed to “?Dufty Brothers, Levuka”, but the duplicate print, P.87337.VH, is described by Fergus Clunie as a Dufty image. In addition, the related print with the same background, P.87301.VH, is published on the National Library of Australia website with the attribution to Francis Dufty. The Photographer and Place fields have been amended accordingly. [JD 9/3/2012]

Photographer: This print is recognisable as Dufty’s Levuka studio through the painted studio backdrop to represent a view out a window with shutters (note the knob added to the shutter that casts a shadow). This appears to be a feature of Dufty’s studio throughout the 1870s, although the idealised landscape ‘view’ changes around 1875-1876. The Photographer, Date, and Place fields have been amended accordingly. [JD 16/3/2012]

This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Fund. [Alex Nadin, 30/9/2003]