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?
Andree, known for some striking postcard images, may have been Adolphus Williams, Jr. a photographer on York Street in Colombo.
Note the title, which attempts to justify the nude image as some sort of ethnographic study.
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]
An early advertising postcard for Doctor Franck's
[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.
[Original caption] A Low Country Village. The picture shows a typical scene in the flat country parts of Ceylon.
![Sinkaleesch [Singhalese]](https://www.paperjewels.org/sites/default/files/styles/square_thumbnail/public/slides/singhalese-portrait_0.jpg?itok=5T0BUfz4 "Sinkaleesch [Singhalese]")
There are very few Dutch postcards, let alone early ones, of India, but this is a splendid exception.
An artfully placed stamp gives this card additional character.
The sitter's expression is among the more memorable antique postcard portraits.
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