item details
NameTomika Te Mutu
ProductionJohn Nicol Crombie; attributed; 1860; New Zealand
Classificationphotographic prints, cartes-de-visite, albumen prints, studio portraits, vintage prints
Materialssilver, albumen, printing-out paper, mounting board
Materials Summaryalbumen silver print
Techniquesblack-and-white photography, albumen process, printing-out
DimensionsImage: 60mm (width), 97mm (height)
Registration NumberO.004270
Overview
Carte-de-visite
The tiny carte-de-visite was the most popular form of portrait photography from the early 1860s to the 1880s, because of its low cost. In an age before technology allowed photographs to be reproduced in newspapers and magazines, people eagerly collected cartes-de-visite of notable personalities, both Māori and European.
Some sitters may have paid to have their photograph taken. Others were probably offered a free sitting by photographers keen to profit from ongoing sales.