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Bo lan Zhonghua tu zhi albums
2004.R.11
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution: Special Collections
Title: Bo lan Zhonghua tu zhi albums
Creator: Brady, Herbert Francis, 1854-1924
Creator: Child, Thomas, 1841-1898
Creator: Fisler, L. F.
Creator: Tai, Kung
Creator: Saunders, William Thomas, 1832-1892
Creator: Moore, Charles Frederick, 1838-1916
Identifier/Call Number: 2004.R.11
Physical Description: 2.5 Linear Feet(2 albums)
Date (inclusive): 1865-1897, undated
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Abstract: The two albums titled
Bo lan Zhonghua tu zhi document the lifestyle of the British foreign service community in Beijing, Tianjin (Tientsin), Hankou (Hankow), Jiujiang,
and Yantai (Chefoo), and also include views of well-known monuments and sites in Beijing, Hankou, and Ningbo (Ningpo) during
the late nineteenth-century.
Language of Material: The materials are in English with some Chinese.
Contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Bo lan Zhonghua tu zhi albums, 1865-1897, udated, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2004.R.11.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2004r11
The collection is arranged in two series: Series I. Volume 19A,1876-1897, undated; and Series II. Volume 19B,1870-1897, undated.
The British diplomat, Herbert Francis Brady (1854-1924), had a long career in the British foreign service. Stationed in China,
he started out as a student interpreter in 1876, and went on to hold senior posts in Kiukiang (Jiujiang), Huangpu, Yichang
(Ichang), and Shanghai, culminating with his appointment as Consul General in Foochow (Fuzhou), the principal Chinese port,
in 1906.
Sources Consulted:
Bennett, Terry.
History of Photograph in China: Western Photographers. London: Quaritch, 2010.
Carstairs, Jamie. "Charles Frederick Moore (1837-1916), a Photographer in China." https://visualisingchina.net/blog/2019/12/05/charles-frederick-moore-1837-1916-a-photographer-in-china.
———. "Charles Frederick Moore's Photographs of the"Ruins of the European-style Palaces at the Yuanmingyuan." https://visualisingchina.net/blog/2022/05/15/charles-frederick-moores-photographs-of-the-ruins-of-the-european-style-palaces-%e8%a5%bf%e6%b4%8b%e6%a5%bc-at-yuanmingyaun-%e5%9c%86%e6%98%8e%e5%9b%ad.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
The collection was digitized in 2017 and the images are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2004r11
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired in 2002.
Processed and cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn in 2004. Beth Ann Guynn wrote the finding aid in 2016 and Beth Ann Guynn and Linda
Kleiger encoded the finding aid in 2016.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection comprises two photograph albums of China titled
Bo lan tu zhi. Inscriptions within the albums identify them as Volume 19A and Volume 19B respectively. The albums were likely assembled
by Herbert Francis Brady, who appears in several of the photographs. The albums document the lifestyle of the British Foreign
Service community in Beijing, Tianjin (Tientsin), Hankou (Hankow), Jiujiang, and Yantai (Chefoo) in the late nineteenth-century.
Views of well-known monuments and sites in Beijing, Hankou, and Ningbo (Ningpo) and also included in the albums.
Althought the bulk of the images are by an unknown maker(s), likely an amateur photographer from within the British Foreign
Service community, photographs by Thomas Child; L. F. Fisler; Kung Tai; and William Saunders are also included in the album.
Also included are two photographs from
Far East Magazine.
The British Legation in Beijing and its denizens are featured in Series I. Album 19A (61 photographs). Included are exterior
and interior views of legation buildings, two group photographs of its fire brigades, and another of the cast of a legation
theatrical performance. Sites and monuments in and around Beijing featured in the album include Summer palace, the Temple
of Heaven, the observatory, and the Ming tombs. There are also views of the city's gates, walls, and streets. There are several
images of the Great Wall.
Images from Hankou and Jiujiang in Series II. Album 19B (58 photographs) include views of the British consulates and social
clubs and group portraits of members of the local British communities. There are images of outings to places such as the monastery
at Yichang, the Lu-shan hills near Jiujiang, and the Hankou plain, as well as race meets and fancy dress balls. The album
also contains views of the Hankou harbor during tea season, the bund, guild houses, and city gates, and the Ningbo pagoda
and Tian Tong temple. There are also city views of Yantai and Shanghai.
Both albums contain a group portrait of members of the Hankou Chinese Inland Mission garbed, according to the sect's custom,
in traditional Chinese dress. Scattered throughout the albums are photographs of Chinese people. Included are portraits of
the general-statesmen Li Hongzhang (Li Hungchang) and Zuo Zongtang (Tso Tsung-t'ang). A photograph by Thomas Child is a rare
depiction of a Buddhist priest doing penance. The Chinese judicial system is represented by a court scene and a group of prisoners
wearing the cangue. Also included are studio portraits of Chinese women, actors, officials, and a group portrait of bankers
and merchants.
The albums have blue silk brocade covers with hand-lettered titles pasted on their upper right-hand corners. A container for
the albums made of two rosewood boards attached with string has the title and maker's name engraved in Chinese characters:
Bo lan tu zhi / Xiabo Lei.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Albumen prints -- China -- 19th century
Collodion prints -- China -- 19th century
Photograph albums -- China -- 19th century
Studio portraits -- China -- 19th century
Photographs, Original
Actors -- China
Astronomical 0bservatories -- China
Consuls -- China
Diplomatic and consular service, British -- Buildings
Great Wall of China (China) -- Description and travel
Ming Tombs (China)
Portraits, Chinese
Buddhist priests -- China
Buddhist temples -- China
Temples, Confucian -- China
Beijing (China) -- Description and travel
Great Britain -- Diplomatic and consular service
Hankou (Wuhan, China) -- Description and travel
Jiujiang (Jiangxi Sheng, China) -- Description and travel
Lu Mountains (China) -- Description and travel
Shanghai (China) -- Description and travel
Suzhou Shi (Jiangsu Sheng, China) -- Description and travel
Tianjin (China)--Description and travel
Yantai (Shandong Sheng, China) -- Description and travel
Yihe Yuan (Beijing, China) -- Description and travel
Li, Hongzhang, 1823-1901
Zuo, Zongtang, 1812-1885
Overseas Missionary Fellowship
Tian Tan (Beijing, China)
Lei, Xiabo