A Boxing Match, in Hapaee

As seen in The Reception of Captain Cook in Hapaee, plate 14 (2006/3/5) Cook was received in Tonga with great pomp and ceremony. The festivities included displays of wrestling and boxing; depicted in more detail in this print. William Anderson described the event, “The boxers advance side ways changing the side at every pace, with one arm stretchd fully out before, the other behind, and holding a piece of cord in one hand which they wrap firmly about it when they find an antagonist.”

Joppien and Smith suggest that the poses of the figures bear a striking likeness to engravings representing different views of the Borghese gladiator in Bernardino Genga’s Anatomia per uso et intelligenza del disegno, 1691; a copy of which was on board the Resolution.

(See J&S Vol. III, Text pp.30-1, Cat. 3.47-3.47A)

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