Large group of villagers with three European men. India, c.1880.

Large form albumen print photograph, 220 x 280 mm; in good condition, with some very minor fading at edges of the print; on an early paper mount.

There is no indication as to the location of the photograph. The large group comprises close to a hundred men, women and children. A picket fence on the left suggests the perimeter of a European residence, and in the background a large single-storey building is under construction. The three young European men, seated on a beam at back left, all have rather menacing expressions; they are certainly not missionaries, nor military men, and it’s probably safe to assume that they are overseers, possibly of a cotton plantation or spinning and weaving enterprise.