item details
NameThe Misses Swanson
ProductionAmerican Photographic Company (Auckland); photography studio; 1869-1876; New Zealand
Classificationcartes-de-visite, albumen prints, photographic prints, studio portraits
Materialsalbumen, photographic paper, silver
Materials Summaryblack and white original print
Techniquesblack-and-white photography
DimensionsImage: 57mm (height), 77mm (length)
Registration NumberO.021240
Credit linePurchased 1999 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds
Overview
Portrait of two small girls wearing cloaks, seated on cloaks on a studio floor. Both are barefoot, and each has two feathers in her hair. The girl on the left is wearing a kaitaka (cloak with an unornamented body and a taaniko border). The girl on the right is wearing a korowai (tasseled cloak). They are sitting on a second korowai, and a kaitaka has been arranged behind them so the taniko border frames their heads. A long carved wooden object, possibly a weapon, is lying on the korowai on the right side of the image.