Saami boys

Studio portrait of five Saami boys, standing and sitting, wearing distinctive hats, identified in a handwritten note on the reverse as living on the coast between Kvalsund and Kvaloin Finmark, Norway.

Photographer: Auguste Figon studio (Hammerfest, Norway), labelled ‘Aug. Figon.’
Date of photograph: Circa 1875–1880
Continent: Europe
Geographical area: Northern Europe
Country: Norway
Region/Place: Finnmark; Hammerfest
Cultural group: European Saami
Format: Carte de visite
Size: 110 x 62 mm
Acquisition: Joan Evans. Donated August 1941

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Primary documentation: ‘[p.588] Dr. JOAN EVANS, from the property of the late SIR ARTHUR EVANS, Youlbury, Boars Hill, Oxford. [List of items follows]’; ‘[p.590] 38 photographs, many coloured, of Lapp types, in box’: Pitt Rivers Museum accession records (Donations X, 1937–1941), pp.588, 590. Notes on mount: ‘Aug. Figon./ Phot. Hammerfest’ (printed on mount card); ‘Lapones des environs du Kvalsund a Kvalo habitant la côte’ (written in black ink on reverse of mount card).

Research notes: This carte de visite has been identified as a photograph by Auguste Figon, taken from the printed information below the image. Figon’s studio is described as being located in Hammerfest. Auguste Figon (1829–1899) was a French photographer who worked in several different places in Norway, including Bergen, Tromsø, Hammerfest and Fredrikstad.