Artwork Page for Ceylonese Woman

Details / Information for Ceylonese Woman

Ceylonese Woman

c. 1880s

Scowen & Co.

(British, active Ceylon, 1876–1895)

or Skeen & Co.

(British, active 1860–1920)
Culture
India, 19th century
Medium
albumen print
Measurements
Image: 14.4 x 9.5 cm (5 11/16 x 3 3/4 in.); Paper: 14.4 x 9.5 cm (5 11/16 x 3 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the Karl B. Goldfield Trust 2018.220
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

Skeen & Co. and Scowen & Co., the two leading photographic establishments in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in the 1880s, rarely signed their work.

Description

European photographers took portraits of the people of the colonized nations not for their subjects, but to sell them to governments as information, to tourists as aides memoires, and to “armchair tourists” as aids to the imagination.
A vertically oriented print in sepia tones depicts a Ceylonese woman with medium-dark skin tone leaning against a textured palm tree. Her dark hair is parted centrally as she gazes forward with a steady expression. She wears a dotted, floral-embroidered blouse and a draped garment. Ornate jewelry decorates her ears, neck, and wrists. Fine specks and a soft-focus background of foliage create a hazy, aged texture.

Ceylonese Woman

c. 1880s

Scowen & Co., Skeen & Co.

(British, active Ceylon, 1876–1895), (British, active 1860–1920)
India, 19th century

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