Portrait of Boki and Liliha

In this painting four figures are present. Center a man with a bright coloured cape and somewhat somber expression stands holding a bottle and cup. Behind him, a woman sits atop a canon, she wears a yellow skirt and appears to be watching Tikhanov with suspicion. Around her neck is a dramatic looking necklace. Both man and woman appear to be drawn both in profile, and viewed from the back. This style is typical in Tikhanov’s work, and many of his portraits feature multiple angles of the subject. Closer examination reveals that the man and the woman with their backs faced to the scene, although wearing identical clothes, are not the same man and woman as those drawn in profile. The man has short hair, and carries a spear. The woman is not wearing a necklace and crown. Behind her, a fifth man, barely visible, peaks out. He carries some kind of fan or standard. There is a striking similarity between the fanbearer of this portrait and the spear bearer of the other. Between the fan and the spear, the dual opulence and violence that underlie Hawaiian aristocratic society is constantly present, lingering in the background almost out of frame.

These figures are, of course, Boki and his wife Liliha. Both Boki and his wife Kuini Liliha were leading members of a delegation to England led by King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamamalu in 1824. After the monarchs died from measles during the stay, Boki and his wife returned to Hawaii with Admiral Lord Byron aboard the British frigate, HMS Blonde, which bore the bodies of the late king and queen. They served as interm representatives of the Kingdom, and after returning from the voyage, opened a hotel and bar called the Blonde Hotel, the first of it’s kind on the Island Kingdom.