Lot Essay
The photographs in these albums document the voyage made by Kaiser Wilhelm II during the last years of the 19th century from circa 1892-...around the West Indies and the South Seas. The West Indian album begins with photographs on board the S.M.S. Prinzess Wilhelm and includes a group portrait with the Prince Yanashima of Japan, views and portraits around Egypt, Tanger and Gibraltar including four bull-fighting scenes; Plymouth, Las Palmas, St. Thomas, Key West and Havana. The majority of the images are on board the ship.
The South Sea albums continue from 1896 on board the Prinz Heinrich and comprise views and portraits around Port Said, Aden, Ceylon, Singapore, Sumatra, New Guinea, Samoa and Hong Kong including portraits of Kandyan chiefs, a Singhalese woman; costume studies; a group portrait of Malay musicians; river views and street scenes; a market scene, architectural studies; three fruit and flower still-lifes; twenty-one images of elephants including fighting scenes; and one of two decapitated heads on a table.
The second volume comprises portraits and views, mostly around New Guinea including village scenes, individual and group portraits of the islanders in traditional dress, fishing, bathing and hunting; a series of thirteen ethnographical studies showing profile and frontal views of male and female islanders (one pair illus.); five portraits of Samoan ladies signed Andrews; and seven views around Hong Kong.
The South Sea albums continue from 1896 on board the Prinz Heinrich and comprise views and portraits around Port Said, Aden, Ceylon, Singapore, Sumatra, New Guinea, Samoa and Hong Kong including portraits of Kandyan chiefs, a Singhalese woman; costume studies; a group portrait of Malay musicians; river views and street scenes; a market scene, architectural studies; three fruit and flower still-lifes; twenty-one images of elephants including fighting scenes; and one of two decapitated heads on a table.
The second volume comprises portraits and views, mostly around New Guinea including village scenes, individual and group portraits of the islanders in traditional dress, fishing, bathing and hunting; a series of thirteen ethnographical studies showing profile and frontal views of male and female islanders (one pair illus.); five portraits of Samoan ladies signed Andrews; and seven views around Hong Kong.