The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Veddahs of Ceylon

c. 1880s

Scowen & Co.

(British, active Ceylon, 1876–1895)

or Skeen & Co.

(British, active 1860–1920)
India, 19th century
albumen print
Image: 21.3 x 28.1 cm (8 3/8 x 11 1/16 in.); Paper: 21.3 x 28.1 cm (8 3/8 x 11 1/16 in.)
Purchase from the Karl B. Goldfield Trust 2018.222
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The Veddahs were originally animists who believed that plants and inanimate objects had souls.

Description

The Veddahs or Veddas are an indigenous minority in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) that may have been the island’s earliest inhabitants. These men are dressed in typical scant Vedda male garb for the 19th century—loincloths tied with a rope at the waist.
  • Bruno Tartarin, Photovintagefrance, Lorraine, France
    September 4, 2018
    the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Veddahs of Ceylon|url=false|author=Scowen & Co., Skeen & Co.|year=c. 1880s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.222