Los 4064

Java
Views of Java

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

Photographer: Woodbury & Page (active 1857-1908). Views of Java. 1870s. 30 albumen prints, mounted to boards. Each ca. 19 x 24 cm or reverse (34,5 x 46 cm). With the photographer’s blind stamp embossed in lower right corner and handwritten captions in pencil below the images on the mount. Presented in canvas-backed clamshell box with silk-lined interior and richly hand-illustrated title leaf featuring Javanese script and a dedication to “Fürst Bismarck.”

This rare and visually striking set offers a wide-ranging photographic survey of colonial Java in the 1870s, including Batavia (Jakarta), Buitenzorg (Bogor), Bandung, Garut, and surrounding volcanic landscapes. The images depict prominent civic buildings such as the former Stadhuis of Batavia, the military hospital, colonial residences, botanical gardens, bridges, markets, and staged ethnographic scenes. Figures in traditional dress appear throughout, offering glimpses of daily life in the Dutch East Indies. The group includes a richly hand-illustrated title page with gold embellishments and Wayang-style figures, bearing a dedication to “Fürst Bismarck” in Javanese script and Latin lettering-suggesting the set was conceived as a diplomatic or commemorative gift to the German Chancellor during a period of expanding international influence.

– Some foxing, smudge marks, and small tears on a number of boards. Some prints show fading, foxing, and/or spotting, as well as traces of silver mirroring along the edges. Otherwise, all in good to very good condition.