Portret van twee onbekende verkoopsters van vis uit Sindh before 1872

This albumen silver print, entitled "Portret van twee onbekende verkoopsters van vis uit Sindh" – or, "Portrait of two unknown fishmongers from Sindh" – was created by Henry Charles Baskerville Tanner in the 19th century. The composition is divided into three horizontal registers: the ground, where the two women are placed; their bodies; and then the soft, arched background. The women are arranged in a high-contrast vertical axis, with one woman standing and the other seated, which adds dynamism to the image. This is further highlighted by the objects that they hold, a metallic bowl reflecting light and a woven basket of fish. Despite the work being a portrait, the artist obscures the personal identity of the women, and instead presents them as types. We must consider how the photograph engages with colonialism, orientalism, and gender, and how these factors inform the image's meaning and our reception of it.