Saxon women

Studio portrait of two Saxon women, standing and sitting, wearing traditional Saxon dress (summer Sunday church clothes).

Photographer: Carl Koller studio (Bistrița, Romania), labelled ‘C. Koller’
Date of photograph: Circa 1870s (after 1870)
Continent: Europe
Geographical area: Central and Eastern Europe
Country: Romania
Region/Place: Transylvania; Bistrița-Nasaud; Bistrița
Cultural group: European German
Format: Cabinet card, hand-coloured
Size: 162 x 107 mm
Acquisition: Joan Evans. Donated August 1941

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Primary documentation: ‘[p.588] Dr. JOAN EVANS, from the property of the late SIR ARTHUR EVANS, Youlbury, Boars Hill, Oxford. [List of items follows]’; ‘[p.590] 3 Coloured photographs - SAXONY types’: Pitt Rivers Museum accession records (Donations X, 1937–1941), pp.588, 590. Notes on mount: ‘CABINET-PORTRAIT VON C. KOLLER IN BISTRITZ’ (printed on mount card); ‘ATELIER für MALEREI u. PHOTOGRAPHIE CARL KOLLER/ BISTRITZ/ Siebenbürgen’ (printed on reverse of mount card); ‘Nro 2. s. Sächsische Bauernmädchen aus Bistritz in Siebenbürgen Vorstadt-Bewohner. Sommersonntagstracht, Kirchenanzug./ (Im Gesangbuch lesend.)’ (from printed label glued on reverse of mount card).

Research notes: This photograph was taken in Bistritz, Austria-Hungary, now known as Bistrița in northern Transylvania, Romania. The population of Transylvanian Saxons had a long history in the region, but by the later nineteenth century were becoming – and still are – a minority group.