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Photo, Print, Drawing Khoikhoi in a Storm.

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About this Item

Title

  • Khoikhoi in a Storm.

Summary

  • This view of a group of Khoi people in a storm 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 drawing shows the traditional dress of the Khoi women: peaked hat, kaross (sheepskin cloak) across the shoulders, a small apron or fuller skin kaross around the waist, and leggings of dried raw-hide. The text on the drawing, in Dutch, reads: "At the Cape it blows mostly S.E. for half a year and mostly N.W. for the half of the year, and both so fiercely that one is scarcely able to walk. Here now is depicted a storm... This woman has a kaross around the middle, and another upper kaross.... The leather bag which they always carry hangs here on the back." Much information about the Khoikhoi is available from early European accounts, but few illustrations exist. These 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, made by another person, also unidentified, after 1730.

Created / Published

  • [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], [1700 to 1730]

Headings

  • -  South Africa--Western Cape
  • -  1700 to 1730
  • -  Cape of Good Hope
  • -  Clothing and dress
  • -  Indigenous peoples
  • -  Khoikhoi (African people)

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  "Reproduced as Plate 3 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 African ox & Khoi couple (INIL 6255v); number 6255 of a set: INIL 6250-6264."--Note extracted from World Digital Library.
  • -  Original resource extent: 1 drawing : pen and sepia ink, black and grey ink wash 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

  • 2021670542

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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The Library asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here.

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

More about Copyright and other Restrictions

For additional information and contact information for many of the partner organizations, see this archived capture of the World Digital Library site from 2021.

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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:

Khoikhoi in a Storm. South Africa Western Cape, 1700. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1730] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670542/.

APA citation style:

(1700) Khoikhoi in a Storm. South Africa Western Cape, 1700. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1730] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670542/.

MLA citation style:

Khoikhoi in a Storm. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified, to 1730] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021670542/>.