Groepsportret van onbekende personen en officieren before 1897

This photograph of civil servants and officers viewing tin mining in Muntok was taken by Christiaan Johan Neeb in the late 19th or early 20th century. The image presents a formal arrangement of figures, reflecting the rigid social hierarchies of the time. Neeb, working in the Dutch East Indies, captured a scene that speaks to the colonial enterprise and its administration. The officers and civil servants, symbols of Dutch authority, are depicted overseeing the extraction of resources from the land, a practice central to the economic exploitation of the colony. Consider how the photograph normalizes colonial power. To fully understand this work, one might delve into archives of the Dutch East India Company or explore studies of colonial administration. This image, like many others, is more than just a picture; it's a window into the complex social and political landscape of its time.