Sinhalese Man

c. 1880s

Sinhalese Man, c. 1880s. Scowen & Co. (British, active Ceylon, 1876–1895), or Skeen & Co. (British, active 1860–1920). Albumen print; image: 14.1 x 9.1 cm (5 9/16 x 3 9/16 in.); paper: 14.1 x 9.4 cm (5 9/16 x 3 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the Karl B. Goldfield Trust 2018.221 The gentleman sports a Western jacket and shirt, but his distinctive hairstyle identifies him as Sinhalese, a people originally from northern India who now form the majority of the population of Sri Lanka. Formally posed in a studio in profile, rather like a specimen, the image is more likely an anthropological study than a commissioned portrait.