IDNO

P.99965.VH

Description

F.H. Dufty studio portrait of a young chief from Gau island in the Lomaiviti Group. He is dressed in Christian warrior cum ceremonial garb consisting essentially of an old time malo loincloth girded high up under his ribs in the challenging malowala way, but masked from the hips down by a black liku sausauwai overskirt trimmed with small white shells and shell beads. His status is indicated by the white barkcloth iwabale or shoulder sash, and the looped fringed white barkcloth train. He wears an ornamental comb in his hair, and is armed with a waka rootstock club. Note the photographer’s clamp.
Circa 1875-1876. See P.99931.VH and P.99943.VH. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Physical Condition: Print mounted onto card.

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Ovalau Island; Levuka; Lomaiviti Group; Gau Island

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Dufty, Francis Herbert (Dufty Brothers, Levuka)

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa 1875 - 1876

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 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]

Related Image: This print or negative appears to be the original image at MAA from which the associated photographs have been derived from. [JD 22/1/2012]

This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Fund. [A. Nadin, 13/10/2003]