Ceremony for the King's Son, Tonga: 18th C. Engraving, Captain Cook's 3rd Voyage

This engraving depicts a large outdoor ceremony in Tonga to honor the coming of age of the king's son. There are large groups of Tongans taking part in the ceremony as well as others observing it. The event took place on July 8th and 9th, 1777, during the visit by Captain Cook and his crew. Cook wrote in his journal that the ceremony celebrated the first occasion upon which the father and son ate together, with food playing a central role in the celebrations; the line of figures depicted carry sticks from which smaller sticks are tied, symbolically representing yams which are presented to the chieftain and his son who sit inside the thatched hut at right. The ceremony was witnessed by John Webber, the artist who accompanied Cook on his 3rd voyage of discovery. He made the drawing that was used for this 18th century engraving.

The engraving is printed on laid chain-linked paper. The sheet measures 9.63" in height and 15.25" in width. There is a short crease in the upper left and right corners, a faint smudge in the upper right margin and what appears to be a tiny spot of residual ink in the right margin, most like occurring at the time the engraving was printed in the 1780's, all of which would be obscured by frame mat. The print is otherwise in excellent condition.

Alexander Hogg was an 18th and early 19th century publisher of illustrated books of architectural and historical prints, as well as maps. His publishing house was located in London at the Kings Arms on Paternoster Row.