Cabinet card studio portrait of Moung Phoset and Mah Phoon, billed as the Sacred Hairy Family of Burma. Mount's verso features Charles Eisenmann's Bowery, NY studio backmark. Ca 1887. The subjects were the third known generation of their family afflicted with what is known today as hypertrichosis, and their touch was considered good luck in their native land. The family was eventually taken in by the Burmese royal family, being given residence in the royal palace and access to a Western education until they were forced to flee at the outbreak of the Third Burmese War. Upon their arrival in the United States via England, they were the subject of a bidding war among various show promoters, which P.T. Barnum won with a $100,000 contract for one year's exhibition. Condition: Even toning to albumen. Slight soiling to mount.
Cabinet card studio portrait of Moung Phoset and Mah Phoon, billed as the Sacred Hairy Family of Burma. Mount's verso features Charles Eisenmann's Bowery, NY studio backmark. Ca 1887. The subjects were the third known generation of their family afflicted with what is known today as hypertrichosis, and their touch was considered good luck in their native land. The family was eventually taken in by the Burmese royal family, being given residence in the royal palace and access to a Western education until they were forced to flee at the outbreak of the Third Burmese War. Upon their arrival in the United States via England, they were the subject of a bidding war among various show promoters, which P.T. Barnum won with a $100,000 contract for one year's exhibition. Condition: Even toning to albumen. Slight soiling to mount.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
