The Ancient Plane (sic) of Human Sacrifices, circa 1882
cabinet photograph of watercolor
PHOTOGRAPHSGordon-Cumming, C.F.
Société, Îles de la, Moorea
circa 1882
paper
overall: 4-1/4 x 6-1/2 in.
Cabinet photograph, albumen print of watercolor on white card; The Ancient Plane (sic) of Human Sacrifices, circa 1882 (see Manuscript Coll. 311); collected by Captain Richard C. Mears (1829-1899) during his travels as a shipmaster to the South Pacific; image that was originally most likely a watercolor painting by C. Gordon Cumming (nee Constance Frederica Gordon-Cumming, a travel painter during the mid to late 1800s) depicting a marae (sacred place for pre-Christian Polynesian society) where it was rumored that human sacrifices took place; handwritten on back "the ancient Plane (sic)/ of Human sacrifices/ Moarea or Eimea".
2005.34.47