It is unusual for postcards to put two people on an ethnographic postcard, although in this case it was the height contrast that caught the attention of the publisher in this studio shot. Would it have been better had the man not sat down?
Note the title, which attempts to justify the nude image as some sort of ethnographic study. Unusual for Andree, many of whose images are portrait photographs, are the painted backdrop, which makes you wonder about how much of the photograph is a…
John & Co., Ceylon was an early 20th‑century commercial postcard and view‑card publisher based in Colombo (and very likely also Kandy), part of the broader trade in photographic and printed views of colonial Ceylon.
[Original] Cingalais Constipation ses Consequences Veritables Grains de Sante ou Docteur Franck, ([For] Constipation and its
consequences. Spirits beneficial to health from Doctor Franck.) [end]
[Original caption] A Jungle Village. The jungle villages of Ceylon are picturesque in the extreme, and rendered more so by the abundance of tropical verdure.
An artfully placed stamp gives this card additional character. According to "the language of stamps" then in vogue, a red stamp placed at this ange would mean "I am true to you." In this case, it is likely that a design sense inspired the sender who…
