PHILLIPS, Robert.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Albumen portrait photographs showing six Sikkimese women. A collection of rare albumen portraits from the studio of Robert Phillips (d. 1882), the official photographer to two successive viceroys of India. They are made in carte-de-visite format, likely for the sake of convenience, but very much reflect the Western ethnographic gaze. Through such photographs, taken a decade after Sikkim became a de facto British protectorate, Europeans could hold in their hands knowledge of these subjects of suzerainty.Phillips's proximity to British India's political establishment is clearly advertised on the verso of each card, with text and decoration proclaiming his current appointment as the official photographer to Lord Northbrook (viceroy between 1872 and 1876), as well as his past work in the service of Northbrook's predecessor, Lord Mayo.Portrait photography became the staple output of European commercial photographers in India in the second half of the 19th century, with Darjeeling serving as home to the studios of several leading practitioners including Phillips and his contemporary John Doyle. Few details of his life survive, making the present collection a particularly valuable record of his contributions to the history of photography in India and its connections to the British imperial project.

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