Photograph of Sean Combs and his son, Christian Casey Combs: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Combs is wearing a black tank top that reads [Sean John] in white, jeans, and sunglasses. He has a bracelet on his proper right wrist, a watch on his left wrist, a diamond necklace, several rings on both hands and tattoos on both arms. His head is tilted to the proper right side and his right hand is holding the sunglasses down near the bottom of his nose. He is sitting in a white armchair. He has a mustache. His baby son is sitting on his lap. The baby has dark curly hair and is wearing a white cloth diaper that reads [Sean John / the future / of fashion / spring 1999]. The background is white.

There is a white border around the image. It is thicker on the top and bottom and thinner on the two sides. The back of the photograph has light grey text repeated upside down in diagonal lines. There is an inscription by Bill Adler at the bottom, handwritten in blue ink.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1999
• Photograph by: Michael Benabib, American, born 1962
• Subject of: Sean Combs, American, born 1969
• Subject of: Sean John, American, founded 1998
• Subject of: Christian Casey Combs, American, born 1998
• Type: portraits
• Type: inkjet prints
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 17 1/16 × 11 in. (43.3 × 27.9 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Children
• Topic: Fashion
• Topic: Fatherhood
• Topic: Hip-hop (Music)
• Topic: Musicians
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Rappers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2015.132.120
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © Michael Benabib Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.