An early photographer to Sarawak

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Heritage Snippets of Sarawak

By Alex Teoh

A double page spread of the Illustrated London News on 4 January 1873 shows a stately print with the title “A SKETCH IN BORNEO”.

The accompanying text reads: “The figures of various natives of Borneo, which F.Regamey has grouped together in his drawing for the large Engraving to form our second Supplement of this week, are all copied from a set of photographs by August Sachtler, a German photographic artist at Singapore, who lately accompanied the English Rajah of Sarawak, in the steam-boat Heartsease, up the large river which traverses the interior of Borneo….”

The Illustrated London News is an illustrated newspaper covering a wide range of topics of the British Empire and its colonies. Its content includes science, arts, culture, politics and the royal family. The newspaper carried printed text with many illustrations. Prior to 1880’s (before press photography was regularly used), illustrations were designed by artists and engravers to produce the prints.

As for the stated photographic artist, the name August Sachtler is not a familiar name in Sarawak. One has probably read of the many early travellers to Sarawak and Borneo. They include names like Antonio Pigafetta in the 1520’s as part of Magellan’s voyage to Brunei, Daneil Beeckman to Banjarmasin in the 1710’s, Frank Marryat on HMS Samarang in 1848, Madam Ida Pfeiffer in 1851 who brave Sarawak to Pontianak, Frederik Boyle and his brother, Authur Boyle in 1863 and Marrianne North, the naturalist artist in 1876. Also well documented are the naturalist Alfred Wallace and Odoardo Beccari.

An investigation on early photography in Singapore reveals Sachtler as one of the early photo studios in Singapore. Established in 1863, Sachtler & Co. was known for the many landscapes and portrait prints of Singapore including a 10-part 360-degree panorama of Singapore from the tower of St Andrew’s Church (Jason Toh, Singapore through 19th Century Photographs, p.21)

Prior to coming to Singapore, August Sachtler was with the Prussian Navy and sailed to East Asia in 1861. He is recorded as learning the chemistry and skills of photography during the expedition to Japan (Sebastian Dobson, The Prussian Expedition to Japan and its Photographic Activity in Nagasaki in 1861, Old Photography Study, 3, Japan, p.27). From his base in Singapore, he made photographic trips to Siam, Indochina, Burma, Sumatra, Java and Malaya.

Unfortunately, Sachtler did not leave any known accounts of his travels or list of photographs, unlike his contemporary photographers like John Thomson and GR Lambert.

In the mid nineteenth century, the photographic process involved the use of wet plate collodion negatives to produce albumen photo prints. The process involved freshly coated glass plates to be exposed in a camera, while the subject remains still. The plates are then promptly developed onsite. It required a travelling dark room with bottles of chemicals. Albumen photos are contact prints with egg white binders on thin high-quality paper.

Concerning Sachtler’s travel to Sarawak, very limited documentation is found to-date. Listed in the newspapers, The Straits Times, Singapore in 1869 and Sarawak Gazette in 1872, a passenger list and some shipping details are revealed.

The Illustration and Photographs?

An attempt to track the photographs used in the “A Sketch of Borneo” illustration will provide some early views of Sarawak. With the photographs, a match can be made with the accompanying text of the illustrations.

After months of research, consultation and examining vintage photo albums, antiquarian travel books and international auction sites, some photo images are identified.

The following images may or were probably used by the artist Regamey and engraver W.B. Gardner to produce this composite illustration.

“In the foreground is a Dyak warrior, of the tribe dwelling on the Batang Lupar river, in the territory of Sarawak. He is in full war costume. His shield, made of a soft but very tough wood, cannot easily be pierced by a spear thrown against it. The spear which he holds in his hand is also a blow-pipe. With this he shoots the arrows at his left. These arrows are poisoned with juice of the upas-tree, mixed with juices of other herbs found in the jungle. This venom will cause death a few minutes after the person is wounded.”

“To the left, half-way back, are a couple of other warriors, belonging to the Kamida tribe, which inhabits the banks of the Rajang river. The foremost of these men is a great chief. They wear swords hanging at their left sides; these swords are curiously made. The blade is convex on one side and concave on the other, so that it will cut only in one way. Some of the warriors use the sword with their left hand, instead of the right. Their shields are adorned, as we see, with tufts of human hair, and we observe that the house, in the background, is decorated with a ghastly festoon of human heads.”

“Turning to the right-hand side of the central figure, we perceive three young women seated on the ground, with a box and a basket before them, talking quietly to each other. They are differently dressed; the one in the middle is a Dyak girl, attired in a gala costume for a ceremonial feast, such as they get up on the solemn day when they present food to the ghosts and demons haunting their household, or at the celebration of a victory which has brought in many enemies’ heads. She has bracelets of polished shell, and heavy brass ring on her legs, bought from the Chinese traders. Her neighbours wear a jacket and petticoat of cotton, their own spinning and weaving, dyed of some gaudy colour. At the other side of her is a Shannowit girl, from beyond the Rajang, whose ears are weighed down by enormous earrings, of brass, copper, or lead, each a pound and three quarters, or even more than two pounds. The holes pierced for their rings are so much enlarged, in some cases, that if said the woman can put her hand through them. But these Dyak females are hard-working servants to their haughty lords. They cultivate the soil, pound the rice, fetch the water, and cook the meal; they paddle their boats up the river to pick the betel-nut and the sireh-leaf, which they sell to the Malays for a chewing-mixture. They have pretty arts and devices for the ornamentation of clothing, of weapons, and of household furniture. Such are the amenities of the social life among the [natives] of Borneo, these fierce Sarebas and Sakarran people, whose acquaintance we made through Rajah Brooke, some five-and twenty years ago.” ILN, 4 January 1873

August Sachtler was in Singapore for less than ten years and died in his home country at the age of 34 in 1873.

To date, a very little is known or documented of August Sachtler’s travels and photos of Sarawak. As he is possibly the earliest photographer to come to Sarawak, it will be beneficial to study his photographs and document his adventures, contributing to the pictorial heritage of Sarawak.

Acknowledgement:

The author would like to thank the following for their kind assistance and references:

Peter Lee, Sebastian Dobson, Gael Newton,
Puan Sri Elizabeth Moggie, Datin Dr Valerie Mashman, Dr Lousie Macul of Friends of Sarawak Museum,
Dora Jok of Sarawak Museum,
the Sarawakian team in Pustaka Negeri Sarawak.

Alex Teoh, a friend of FOSM, is a paper and book conservator of rare manuscripts, collectible prints, antique maps, photo albums and antiquarian books. His focus is on the local material culture of the written text in Southeast Asia. His interest is also in the material culture and documentary heritage of Borneo.

References:

Dobson Sebastian (2009, May) The Prussian Expedition to Japan and its Photographic Activity in Nagasaki in 1861, Old Photography Study, Japan, pp 27-36.
Gray Alexander Hill (1925) Sixty Years Ago: Wanderings of Stonyhurst Boy in Many Lands, John Murray, London.
Lee Peter (2020) Amek gambar: Taking Pictures: Peranakans and Photography, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore
Tate D.J.M. (1997) Rajah Brooke’s Borneo, Falcon Press, Malaysia.
Toh Jason (2009) Singapore through 19th Century Photographs, EDM, Singapore.

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