Hawaiian Islands / Sandwich Islands
1784, first edition atlas from Captain Cook's Third Voyage
Copper plate engraving by John Webber
Archival mat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
Provenance: Randy Nagatani, Honolulu, HI; Lahaina Printsellers, Maui, HI
This copper plate engraving by John Webber depicts a man of the Sandwich Islands wearing a feathered helmet, from the first edition atlas of Captain Cook's third and final voyage, published in 1784. Webber was appointed official draughtsman for the expedition in 1776 and supervised the engraving of his drawings for the Admiralty's official account; his plates of Hawaiian chiefly dress remain among the best-known early visual documents of the islands. The feathered helmet was among the most culturally significant objects in the Hawaiian chiefly wardrobe, and its appearance here reflects the expedition's systematic attention to objects of rank and ceremony.
The archival mat presents the plate at a formal scale consistent with other Cook voyage engravings. Webber's line work records the helmet, cloak, and figure with the documentary clarity that distinguishes the official voyage publication from later popular editions. The Randy Nagatani and Lahaina Printsellers provenance adds a chain of Hawaiian collecting history to a print at the center of early Hawaiian visual documentation.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Hawaiian Islands / Sandwich Islands
1784, first edition atlas from Captain Cook's Third Voyage
Copper plate engraving by John Webber
Archival mat: 24 × 20 in. (61 × 50.8 cm)
Provenance: Randy Nagatani, Honolulu, HI; Lahaina Printsellers, Maui, HI
This copper plate engraving by John Webber depicts a man of the Sandwich Islands wearing a feathered helmet, from the first edition atlas of Captain Cook's third and final voyage, published in 1784. Webber was appointed official draughtsman for the expedition in 1776 and supervised the engraving of his drawings for the Admiralty's official account; his plates of Hawaiian chiefly dress remain among the best-known early visual documents of the islands. The feathered helmet was among the most culturally significant objects in the Hawaiian chiefly wardrobe, and its appearance here reflects the expedition's systematic attention to objects of rank and ceremony.
The archival mat presents the plate at a formal scale consistent with other Cook voyage engravings. Webber's line work records the helmet, cloak, and figure with the documentary clarity that distinguishes the official voyage publication from later popular editions. The Randy Nagatani and Lahaina Printsellers provenance adds a chain of Hawaiian collecting history to a print at the center of early Hawaiian visual documentation.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
