Twee mannen en bediende met muziekinstrument en waterpijp 1870 - 1900

This photograph by O. Schoefft captures three men with a musical instrument and water pipe. The sepia tones and staged composition are typical of early photographic prints. The process involved coating paper with light-sensitive chemicals, exposing it to light through a negative, and then developing the image, revealing it slowly. Here, the composition is rich with props: clothing, furniture, and a painted backdrop. The clothing of the seated men looks particularly labor intensive, with delicate weaving and detailed embroidery. The water pipe too, next to the drum, is crafted from diverse materials: glass, metal, and wood. The photograph aestheticizes the oriental setting in a way that was popular at the time, but it also speaks to the wider social issues of labor, class, and consumption. The clothing, the objects and the scene, are laden with suggestion of the complex power relations between the colonizer and the colonized. Paying attention to the material and the making of this photograph helps us to understand its full meaning, and the social context in which it was made.