Images(2)

Tonga-Tabou

Author Albert Étienne de Montémont (French, 1788 - 1861)

Maker L Massard

Engraver Choubard (fl. 1807 - 1830)

Datec 1835

Object number00031483

NameEngraving

MediumColoured engraving on paper.

DimensionsOverall: 240 x 158 mm, 0.006 kg

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionEngraving titled 'Tonga - Tabou' depicting a woman from Tonga wearing a floral skirt with green edging and holding string of beads. Beneath the title is the text reference for the plate 'Voy. Autour du Monde. Cook. T.4 P.87 Dumont d'Urville P.304', the accounts of the voyages of Captain James Cook and Dumont d'Urville in the multi-volume work 'Bibliothèque universelle des voyages, effectués par mer ou par terre dans les diverses parties du monde ...' by Albert Étienne de Montémont.HistoryThis plate, No. 17, is from 'Bibliothèque universelle des voyages, effectués par mer ou par terre dans les diverses parties du monde, depuis les premières découvertes jusqu'a nos jours' by Albert Étienne de Montémont, published by Armand-Aubrée, Paris 1833. Volumes 1 - 21 are subtitled 'Voyages Autour de Monde'. The plate relates to the voyages of Captain James Cook and Captain Dumont d'Urville and their accounts of Tonga (the Friendly Islands). This print is one of a collection of French images that highlights the European presence in the Pacific and their simplified impressions of the Indigenous cultures they were encountering. The costume studies are a gallery of 'types' - the 'noble' Hawaiian, the ‘savage 'Maori or the 'seductive' Tahitian. SignificanceOne of eleven costume studies of South Seas' and East Indies' islanders illustrating De Freycinet's circumnavigation account 'Voyage autour du monde' (1817-20)