Nouvelle Irelande – Archipel Viti – Costumes des Habitans du Havre Carteret,
Costumes des Habitans de l’Ile Vatou L’ele

Victor Adam & Joseph Lemercier after Louis Auguste de Sainson

From Voyage de la corvette l’Astrolabe exécuté par ordre du roi, pendant
les années 1826-1827-1828-1829, sous le commandement de M. J. Dumont d’Urville …

De Sainson was the official artist to the voyage under the command of Jules-Sébastian-César
Dumont d’Urville aboard the Astrolabe. Amongst other places the voyage took in the western,
southern and eastern coasts of Australia (referred to as Nouvelle Hollande), the upper South
Island and east coast of New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea

Ethnographic portrait plates are included throughout the Atlas representing the various places
the Astrolabe stopped as it journeyed through the Pacific. Some of the subjects are named,
often chiefs and their relatives, while others remain anonymous. Particular attention is paid
to physiognomy, adornments, hairstyles and tattoo. Other plates detail clothing, along with
body adornments.

The Atlas to the Voyage de la corvette l’Astrolabe was unique in that it was the first such
publication to use lithography to reproduce the plates.

Lithograph, Image Size: 350mm x 200mm
Paper Size: 535mm x 355mm