A black and white portrait photograph of a South Asian women looking diretly at the camera. Her head and body are covered by a light-coloured shawl, covering some sort of ornamented dress underneath. She wears a large hooped nose-ring in her left nostril. Original caption: 'Indian. Coolie. Woman.'

'Coolie' was a label used to describe low-paid Asian labourers, including the thousands of indentured South Asian labourers transported overseas by the British. The word is now considered offensive (although it is still used in parts of South Asia and the Carribean). This photograph was almost certainly taken in a commercial photograph studio. It is possible that the woman shown was casually labelled as a 'coolie' by the photographer or album compiler for convenience.

Nose rings are an adornment traditional used by communities in many parts of India, often as a rite of passage for women, and still common today. Different areas have different styles and positioning of rings. Piercing the left nostril, as shown here, is more common in northern India.