Ethnography

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"A method used by the Natives of New South Wales of ornamenting themselves"

Artist: Port Jackson Painter
Created: [between 1788 and 1797]
Dimensions: 21.3 x 19.1 cm
Reference: Watling Drawing - no. 56

 

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Half-length portrait of an Aboriginal man on a plain background, the figure underlined in black ink. A sword or club of pale yellow overlaid with a pattern of grey wavy lines rises up across his body to the right. His jaw-length hair is decorated with bone ornaments. His body is painted with a pair of white lines along his upper arms and down across his chest, and his chest and upper arms are marked with black lines representing cicatrices. The drawing is annotated in brown ink and framed by a pencil border.

 

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