Two cinnamon peelers at work
From the collection of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
Outside, two men sit crouched on uneven and sloping ground. The men belong to the Sinhalese professional group of cinnamon peelers of the caste of the chalia's or Salagama. The man on the left wears a hip cloth (veshti, lungi), partly drawn over his left knee. In his left hand he holds a cut branch of the cinnamon tree. With the peeling knife in his right hand, he cuts the reddish-brown inner bark loose. The man on the right is drawn straight from the front. He is dressed in a hip cloth (veshti, lungi) wrapped in the Sinhalese manner. With his right hand he draws a peeling knife along a branch of the cinnamon tree; perhaps he is removing the outer bark. Sheet 100 from a sketchbook with 117 sheets.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam’s own description
