1585 John White (English artist, c 1540-1593) Man and Woman Eating
A man on the left and a woman on the right are seated facing each other on a strip of matting, which appears to be stitched across at about one foot intervals. It extends beyond the left-hand edge but the end on the right is finished with a double row of stitches. They are eating with their right hands from a large circular dish containing large grains of food. The man has his hair shaved at the side, with a roach running from front to back in which he wears a feather. A small knot of hair is gathered at the back of the neck. His ear ornament is apparently a piece of skin, passed through a hole in the right ear lobe and hanging down several inches on either side. Each end is marked with a streak of yellow, perhaps representing cylindrical pieces of shell or bone. Lines of red paint are visible on his face and forehead. His fringed deerskin mantle is worn over the left shoulder, the top folded over, showing the hair on the inside. The woman's hair is worn long, with a low fringe in front, perhaps hiding a headband or tattooing, and is tied in a knot at the neck. She also wears a three-string bead or pearl necklace, and a fringed skin robe over her left shoulder.
Inscribed in dark brown ink, at the top, "Theire sitting at meate. "
John White (English artist, c 1540-1593) was an English artist & early pioneer of English efforts to settle North America. He was among those who sailed with Richard Grenville to the shore of present-day North Carolina in 1585, acting as artist & mapmaker to the expedition. During his time at Roanoke Island he made a number of watercolor sketches of the surrounding landscape and the native Algonkin peoples. These works are significant as they are the most informative eyewitness illustrations of an early Native American society of the Eastern seaboard.
