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Chandur Seorposh Kaffir Boy
Watercolour
1836 (painted)
1836 (painted)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Watercolour drawing
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Chandur Seorposh Kaffir Boy (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Pencil, pen and ink, and watercolour |
| Brief description | Watercolour, `Chandur Seorposh Kaffir Boy', 1836, by Godfrey Thomas Vigne |
| Physical description | Watercolour drawing |
| Dimensions |
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| Styles | |
| Marks and inscriptions | Inscribed with title, Kabul and date Aug 31st. 1836, and number 47, and Kabul |
| Credit line | Purchased with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, Shell International and the Friends of the V&A |
| Object history | In South Africa the word "Kaffir" has been used as a strongly derogatory term for black Africans. The term is repeated here in its original historical context. According to Rodney Searight: - `acquired from Henry D'Olier Vigne, great-nephew of the artist, May 1971, £200'. [with SD.1087-1101, SD.1103 & 1104: SD1105-1121, SD.1123-1130, SD.1132-1134, SD.1137-1138, SD.1150, SD.1153] |
| Historical context | See Vigne, A Personal Narrative of a Visit to Ghuzni, Kabul, And Afghanistan ..., 1840 , p.384, wood engraving. -"Kafiristan or Kafirstan was a historic name of Nurestan (Nuristan), a province in the Hindukush region of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Kafiristan takes its name from the inhabitants, the Kafirs, a fiercely independent people with distinctive culture, language and religion. In 1896 the country was conquered and forcibly converted to Islam by the Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, who renamed the people as Nuristani ("Enlightened Ones" in Persian) and the land as Nuristan ("Land of the Enlightened"). Kafirstan means "Land of the infidels" in the Persian. It has been claimed that "Kafir" comes from the Arabic kafir, translated as "those that reject Islam."- |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Places depicted | |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | SD.1122 |
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| Record created | November 20, 2007 |
| Record URL |
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