Descriptive Summary
Biographical / Historical
Administrative Information
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Bo lan Zhonghua tu zhi albums
Date (inclusive): 1873-1897
Number: 2004.R.11
Creator/Collector:
Brady, Herbert Francis,
1854-1924
Physical Description:
2.5 Linear Feet
(2 albums)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles 90049-1688
reference@getty.edu
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/askref
(310) 440-7390
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.
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Language: Collection material is in Description is in English with some Chinese
Biographical / Historical
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 Jiujiang (Kiukiang), Huangpu, Yichang (Ichang), and
Shanghai, culminating with his appointment as Consul General in Fuzhou (Foochow), the
principal Chinese port, in 1906.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Bo lan Zhonghua tu zhi albums, 1873-1897, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles,
Accession no. 2004.R.11.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2004r11
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired in 2002.
Processing Information
Processed and cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn in 2004. Beth Ann Guynn wrote the finding aid and
Beth Ann Guynn and Linda Kleiger encoded the finding aid in 2016.
Digitized Material
The collection was digitized in 2017 and the images are available online:
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, and also include views of well-known monuments and sites in Beijing,
Hankou, and Ningbo (Ningpo).
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.
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, one of which includes a
figure who may be Thomas Child.
Images from Hankou and Jiujiang in Series II. Album 19B 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 beauties, actors, officials, and a
group portrait of bankers and merchants.
The albums have blue silk brocade covers with hand-lettered titles pasted on upper
right-hand corners. A container 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.
Volume 19A has 33 leaves numbered in ink and 61 photographs; most pages have pencil
captions in English. Volume 19B has 34 leaves numbered in ink and 58 photographs; most pages
have ink captions in Chinese and English. Photographs are adhered to both the rectos and
versos of the leaves.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in two series: and
. Series I. Volume 19A,1873-1897;
Series II. Volume 19B,1878-1897
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Names
Li, Hongzhang, 1823-1901 -- Portraits
Zuo, Zongtang, 1812-1885 -- Portraits
Child, Thomas, 1841-1898
Fisler, L. F.
Lei, Xiabo
Tai, Kung
Subjects - Corporate Bodies
Overseas Missionary Fellowship
Tian Tan (Beijing, China)
Subjects - Topics
Actors -- China
Astronomical 0bservatories -- China
Consuls -- China
Diplomatic and consular service, British -- Buildings
Ming Tombs (China)
Portraits, Chinese
Buddhist priests -- China
Buddhist temples -- China
Temples, Confucian -- China
Tianjin (China)--Description and travel
Subjects - Places
Great Wall of China (China) -- Description and travel
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
Yantai (Shandong Sheng, China) -- Description and travel
Yihe Yuan (Beijing, China) -- Description and travel
Genres and Forms of Material
Albumen prints -- China -- 19th century
Collodion prints -- China -- 19th century
Photograph albums -- China -- 19th century
Studio portraits -- China -- 19th century
Photographs, Original
Contributors
Brady, Herbert Francis,
1854-1924