# 13717

LINDT, J.W. 1845-1926 (attributed)

Flute players, Ambrym, New Hebrides, circa 1890

$750.00 AUD

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Silver albumen print, cabinet card format, 105 x 165 mm, inscribed in the negative “No. 59 Ambrym, New Hebrides”; recto of mount embossed in gilt “Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”; verso blank; the albumen print is in fine condition with excellent tonal range.

A rare image capturing a performance by a group of Ambrym men playing traditional single bamboo flutes. The photograph was probably taken by German-born Australian photographer J.W. Lindt, who visited the New Hebrides in 1889 and 1890-91. For an illustrated essay on this type of musical instrument, see Kirk W. Huffman, Single bamboo flutes, in Joël Bonnemaison, Kirk Huffman, Christian Kaufmann, Darrell Tryon (eds.), Arts of Vanuatu, Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, 1996, p. 150 ff.