Antique Hand-Colored Portrait of a New Ireland Islander, Berghaus, 1854

A man of New Ireland, an original antique hand colored print of 1854, the coloring applied by hand over a printed outline. The caption below the figure reads INBOORLING VAN NIEUW JERLAND., meaning Native of New Ireland; the island's name is spelled Nieuw Jerland on the plate.

The man sits on a grassy bank under a palm tree, his body wrapped in a large striped mat or cloak that rises in a hood-like curve behind his head. His face is marked with broad dark bands across the forehead, nose and cheeks, and he has shoulder length brown hair and a beard. A pale disc hangs on a cord at his chest, and he wears a gold band on his upper arm and gold bands at both ankles. His arms are hidden inside the wrap, and his bare feet are set on the sandy ground. Grasses and plants fill the foreground at the left.

No artist, lithographer or publisher is named on the plate, and there is no plate number above or below the image; the printed caption is the only lettering on the sheet.

The plate comes from the second volume, the Tweede Deel, of De Volken van den Aardbodem, the Dutch edition of Heinrich Berghaus's illustrated work on the peoples of the world, translated from the German by M. J. van Oven and published at Gorinchem by J. Noorduyn en Zoon in 1854. The title page of the volume announces 120 extra fine plates colored after nature. Berghaus was a German geographer, best known for his Physikalischer Atlas. New Ireland lies in the Bismarck Archipelago and is today part of Papua New Guinea.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along all four edges. Foxing over much of the margin. Slight wear at the bottom right and top left corners. Several larger brown marks.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.