Painting

Image depicting the music-hall performer George H. Chirgwin (1854-1922) in character as 'the White-Eyed Kaffir' underneath the image Chirgwin has inscribed it with a line that was probably part of his stage patter: 'I'll put my Scotch cap down here' and then I'll sing you a little song.'

G. H. Chirgwin was a talented musician who played a variety of stringed instruments and was well known for playing the 'Jap fiddle', the one-stringed bowed instrument depicted here, named after its similarity to the Japanese instrument the kokyū. The 'Jap fiddle' was popular with street performers, music hall performers and vaudevillians in the United Kingdom and the USA in the early 20th century. Chirgwin's characteristic diamond-shaped white eye make-up is said to have developed from the day he accidentally wiped his face when made up as a black-face minstrel.