A 1590 engraving by Theodor de Bry depicting a woman and child from the Pomeiooc village, based on original drawings by John White.

This engraving, titled A Chief Lady of Pomeiooc, originates from the 1590 publication of Thomas Hariot's A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia. Theodor de Bry, a Flemish engraver and publisher, produced these plates based on the original watercolour drawings by John White, who accompanied the 1585 expedition to Roanoke. The work depicts a woman and a child from the Pomeiooc village, a Secotan settlement in present-day North Carolina.

The composition presents the figures in the foreground, with the woman holding a large gourd and the child carrying a small, spherical object. The background features a coastal scene with canoes and birds, providing context to the environment of the indigenous population. De Bry utilised fine lines and cross-hatching to define the forms, textures, and shadows, a technique characteristic of late sixteenth-century European printmaking. The figures are rendered with a degree of classical proportion, reflecting the European artistic conventions of the period rather than a strictly observational style.

Historically, these prints were instrumental in shaping European perceptions of the Americas. While intended as a record of the expedition, the images are filtered through the lens of European artistic training. The engraving process allowed for the mass reproduction of these images, circulating them throughout Europe and providing a visual reference for the inhabitants of the New World. The print remains a significant document for historians studying the early interactions between European explorers and the indigenous peoples of the Atlantic coast. It captures a specific moment of colonial documentation, where the desire for scientific observation met the stylistic preferences of the Renaissance printmaker.