Charles Pickering Painting of a Polynesian Man (PM# 996-15-70/5742) Watercolor on paper Probably late 19th century 47.7 cm x 32.2 cm (dimensions framed) Gift of the Estate of Margaret Mayall	Charles Pickering Painting of a Polynesian Woman (PM# 995-15-70/5743) Watercolor on paper Probably late 19th century 47.4 cm x 32.2 cm (dimensions framed) Gift of the Estate of Margaret Mayall
The Fijian man in the painting on the left is wearing a loincloth, hair decorations, necklace, and bracelets; he is holding a barbed spear, a "gunstock" club, and a throwing club in his loincloth. The Fijian woman in the painting on the right is wearing a necklace and bracelets and carrying a basket.
Charles Pickering was born in Pennsylvania in 1805, and grew up in Wenham, MA. His grandfather was Col. Timothy Pickering, who was active in Revolutionary War. Charles Pickering attended Harvard University, from where he graduated with a medical degree, and set up practice in Philadelphia. He was the librarian and curator of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and a naturalist (principally botanist, but also herpetologist and ichthyologist) with the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838-42). Upon his return, he was appointed superintendent of collections and publication at the Patent Office, where specimens from the Expedition were being held. He temporarily resigned from the Office in 1843 and travelled to Africa and India to research a volume on human races (Races of Man and Their Geographical Distribution, vol. 9 in the Expedition's reports, published in 1848.) He also wrote Geographical Distribution of Animals and Plants (vol. 15 of the Expedition's reports, published in 1854, and a privately-published second volume in 1876). Pickering later moved to Boston, worked again as a physician, married but had no children. His greatest legacy was his posthumously published Chronological History of Plants: Man's Record of His Own Existence Illustrated through Their Names, Uses, and Companionship. He passed away in 1898.
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