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Photo, Print, Drawing Khoi Women and Dutch Colonist.

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About this Item

Title

  • Khoi Women and Dutch Colonist.

Summary

  • This view of a group of Khoi women in various costumes and poses, with a woman colonist holding a container, is from a set of 27 drawings on 15 sheets that was discovered in the National Library of South Africa in 1986. The drawings are important for presenting the earliest realistic depictions of the Khoikhoi, the original inhabitants of the Western Cape. The annotations describe Khoi dress and ornamentation, explaining that Khoi women wear several strings of beads around the neck, with copper beads the most favored. The note remarks on the Khoi custom of smearing the body and clothing with fat, a practice that the European colonists found repugnant but that was related to exposure to the sun for long periods in hot, dry conditions. "Indeed, it is the most important sign of a rich man that he appears shiny, and this is not neglected by anyone if he can get hold of some fat." The dress of the colonist is of interest, and is similar to that of a maidservant drawn by Vermeer around 1659. Much information about the Khoikhoi is available from early European accounts, but few illustrations exist. The drawings in the collection were made in situ and, unlike most early European depictions of the Khoikhoi, were never filtered through the eyes of European engravers. The artist most likely was a Dutchman, born in the 17th century, who was attached in some capacity to the Dutch East India Company and possibly en route to the Dutch East Indies or on his way back to the Netherlands when he visited the Cape. Evidence suggests that the drawings were made no later than 1713, and possibly a good deal earlier. Most of the drawings have annotations, in Dutch, made by another person, also unidentified, after 1730.

Created / Published

  • [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [1700 to 1740]

Headings

  • -  South Africa--Western Cape
  • -  1700 to 1740
  • -  Cape of Good Hope
  • -  Clothing and dress
  • -  Indigenous peoples
  • -  Khoikhoi (African people)
  • -  Manners and customs
  • -  Netherlands--Colonies
  • -  Women

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  "Reproduced as Plate 5 in The Khoikhoi at the Cape of Good Hope: Seventeenth-century drawings in the South African Library / text by Andrew B. Smith, from which this description is adapted. On recto of Khoi women (INIL 6253v); number 6253 of a set: INIL 6250-6264."--Note extracted from World Digital Library.
  • -  Original resource extent: 1 drawing : pen and sepia ink on paper ; 20 x 31 centimeters.
  • -  Original resource at: National Library of South Africa.
  • -  Content in Dutch.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Source Collection

  • The Khoikhoi at the Cape of Good Hope

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021670546

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Khoi Women and Dutch Colonist. Western Cape South Africa, 1700. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1740] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670546/.

APA citation style:

(1700) Khoi Women and Dutch Colonist. Western Cape South Africa, 1700. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1740] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670546/.

MLA citation style:

Khoi Women and Dutch Colonist. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1740] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021670546/>.