Ethnography

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"A Native of New South Wales ornamented after the manner of the Country"

Artist: Port Jackson Painter
Created: [between 1788 and 1797]
Dimensions: 21.1 x 17.7 cm
Reference: Watling Drawing - no. 61

 

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Half-length portrait of an Aboriginal man, his torso facing forwards and his head turned in profile to the right against a plain background. His hair is black and jaw-length, and decorated with what appear to be teeth ornaments, and his septum is pierced by a straight nose bone. His skin is dark brown in colour with darker shading, black markings on his upper arms representing cicatrices, and white body paint in lines across his upper arms and shoulders, converging in a medallian-like design in the centre of his chest. He is holding a pale pink and yellow fish in his outstretched left hand, and a four-pronged fishing spear across his chest, pointing to upper right. The bases of both the figure and the fish are underlined in black ink lines. The drawing is annotated in brown ink.

 

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