Los 4021

Ceylon
Sinhalese temple dancers, chiefs, monks, craftsmen, and street performers

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Aus dem Katalog
Fotografie des 19. – 21. Jahrhunderts (Katalog nur online verfügbar)
Auktionsdatum 29.11.2025

Photographer: J.D. Herbert (active ca. 1860-1885). Sinhalese temple dancers, chiefs, monks, craftsmen, and street performers. 1870s-1880s. 10 albumen stereoviews, mounted to yellow card stock. Each ca. 8,5 x 17,5 cm. With photographer’s studio stamp on the verso.

This group of stereoscopic photographs by J. D. Herbert offers a vivid and detailed visual survey of Sinhalese cultural and social life in late 19th-century Ceylon. Among the subjects are Kandyan dancers in elaborate ceremonial attire, Buddhist monks shown both seated beneath a ritual parasol and standing in formal pose, and temple musicians with traditional drums. Also featured are Tamil plantation workers and two snake charmers with live pythons and wind instruments. Seated portraits of high-ranking Sinhalese chiefs in traditional dress reflect the colonial fascination with indigenous elites. Carefully composed against painted or natural backdrops, the images blend ethnographic observation with the staged conventions of colonial photography. – Some scuff marks, some soiling and foxing of mounts, otherwise in very good condition.