Women of Kangaroo Island and a Jervis Bay Man, Australia, Antique Print, 1854

Portraits of Aboriginal Australians of Jervis Bay and Kangaroo Island, an original antique hand colored print of 1854, the coloring applied by hand over a printed outline. The sheet carries two subjects, each with its own caption. Under the upper portrait: INBOORLING VAN DE HAVEN JERVIS., Native of Jervis Bay (literally, of the harbor Jervis). Under the lower pair: VROUWEN VAN HET KANGURUH-EILAND., Women of Kangaroo Island.

The upper half of the sheet shows the head and shoulders of a man, facing the viewer, with thick curling dark hair and a full beard. Small strings of colored beads or ornaments hang among the locks on both sides of his face. Below, two women are shown as busts side by side: the one at the left in profile, facing left, and the one at the right turned toward the viewer. Both have closely cropped hair and wear pale yellow cloaks with dark fur collars. The portraits are drawn without any landscape, with light hatching for shadow.

No artist, lithographer or publisher is named on the plate, and there is no plate number above or below the image; the printed captions are 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. Jervis Bay lies on the coast of New South Wales, and Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia. Kangaroo Island was named by Matthew Flinders in 1802.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along all four edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. Slight wear at the top left corner.

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