Their Idol Kiwasa - Theodor de Bry

A detailed 1590 engraving by Theodor de Bry depicting the indigenous idol Kiwasa, based on John White's observations of the Secotan people.

This engraving, titled Their Idol Kiwasa, originates from the 1590 publication 'A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia'. Theodor de Bry produced this work based on the earlier watercolour observations of John White, who accompanied the first English expedition to Roanoke Island. The image depicts a wooden effigy, known as Kiwasa, housed within a structure described as a charnel house or temple.

The figure sits in a cross-legged position upon a raised platform, wearing strings of beads and decorative leg coverings. De Bry utilised precise hatching and cross-hatching techniques to define the textures of the woven matting, the wooden structure, and the figure itself. The composition is symmetrical, placing the idol at the centre of the frame to emphasise its role as a religious object within the indigenous culture of the Secotan people.

As a historical document, the print reflects the European perspective of the late sixteenth century. De Bry, a publisher and engraver based in Frankfurt, never travelled to the Americas himself. He adapted White's field sketches into highly finished copperplate engravings for a European audience curious about the New World. The resulting images were instrumental in shaping early modern perceptions of North American indigenous life. The technical execution demonstrates the high standard of printmaking associated with de Bry's workshop, which produced some of the most widely circulated visual records of the era. This print remains a subject of study for those interested in the history of exploration, colonial documentation, and the transmission of ethnographic information through the medium of print.