Finding aid for Views and scenes of China, 1860-1900
Beth Ann Guynn
Descriptive Summary
Title: Views and scenes of China
Date (inclusive): 1860-1900
Number: 2006.R.1
Physical Description:
2 Linear Feet
1 box (22 photographic prints)
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: This group of 22 albumen prints of
China includes nine images from Shanghai, four from Hankou, three from Tianjin, two from
Guangzhou, two from Hong Kong, and one each from Anting, Ningbo, Xiamen, Beijing, and
Nanjing. Included are photographs made by British military personnel and other European
photographers, as well as Chinese photographers and studios. Photographers include Paul
Champion, St. Julian Hugh Edwards, Lai Fong, Liang Shitai, Kung Tai, Pow Kee Studio, and
Major James Crombie Watson.
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Language: Collection material is in
English .
Biographical / Historical
The collection contains photographs by several makers including Paul Champion, St. Julian
Hugh Edwards, Lai Fong, Liang Shitai, Kung Tai, Pow Kee Studio, and Major James Crombie
Watson.
Chemical engineer and amateur photographer Paul Champion (1838-1884), traveled through
China from 1865 to 1866 under the auspices of the Société zoologique d'Acclimatation which
sought flora and fauna exchange and other trade opportunities with China. Champion's
stereoviews were published by Charles Gaudin, B.K. Editeur, Paris (A. Block) as the series
Chine & Japon, Asiatic Views, China and
Vues de Chine.
The American photographer, St. Julian Hugh Edwards (1838-1903), was based in Amoy (Xiamen)
starting around 1861. He was likely the first photographer to practice in Taiwan.
Kung Tai (Gong Tai) flourished from the 1870s to 1890s in Shanghai. His studio was noted
for its mulit-plate panoramas of the Shanghai Bund.
Lai Fong (ca.1839 to 1890) operated a photography in Hong Kong from at least 1870, and
possibly as early as 1859, and was known for his portraiture and landscapes. Lai used
'Afong' as his commercial name, and the Afong Studio remained in business until the
1940s.
Liang Shitai (flourished 1870s and 1880s; also known as See Tay), a Cantonese photographer
who began his career as a painter, specialized in portraits of Qing dynasty officials and
elites. He opened a studio in Hong Kong in the early 1870s. By 1876 he had relocated to
Shanghai and he then moved to Tianjin in the 1880s. Shitai's photographs incorporate the
traditional styles and aesthetics of Chinese painting and his portraits are compositionally
and stylistically linked to the canon of Chinese Imperial portraiture.
Pow Kee (Bao Ji zhaoxiangguan) established a studio in Hankow by at least 1884. By 1888,
the studio had moved to Nanjing. It was re-established in Shanghai in the 1890s, as Pow Kee
& Sons.
Major James Crombie Watson (1833, Tasmania, Australia-1908, Ningbo, China), was an officer
in the Anglo-Chinese Artillery. He moved to Nigbo in 1862 where he worked for the Chinese
government as the superintendent of police.
Sources consulted:
Bennett, Terry.
History of Photography in China 1842–1860.
London: Bernard Quaritch, 2009.
Bennett, Terry.
History of Photography in China: Chinese
Photographers 1844–1879
. London: Bernard Quaritch, 2013.
Bickers, Robert. Historical Photographs of China. https://www.hpcbristol.net
Bradbury, Joyce.
Forgiven but Not Forgotten: Memoirs of a Teenage
Girl Prisoner of the Japanese in China
. New South Wales Australia: Jopyce
Bradbury, 2000. http://www.weihsien-paintings.org/books/ForgivenForgotten/Book/ch2.htm
Cody, Jeffery W.; Terpak, Frances, eds.
Brush & Shutter: Early
Photography in China
. Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2011.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Views and scenes of China, 1860-1900, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession
no. 2006.R.1.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2006r1
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired in 2006.
Processing Information
The collection was processed and cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn in 2006. She wrote the finding
aid in 2021.
Digitized Material
The collection was digitized by the repository in 2021 and the images are available
online:
Scope and Content of Collection
This group of 22 albumen prints of China includes nine images from Shanghai, four from
Hankou, three from Tianjin, two from Guangzhou, two from Hong Kong, and one each from
Anting, Ningbo, Xiamen, Beijing, and Nanjing. Included are photographs made by British
military personnel and other European photographers, as well as Chinese photographers and
studios. Several of the photographs capture aspects of the European presence in China in the
nineteenth century.
Photographs from Shanghai include two taken by a Lieutenant Colonel E. Milsom in 1868: one
is a view of the tea house near the City God temple (Cheng huang miao); the other is a view
of a Shanghai-area pagoda and temple showing damage sustained in the Taiping Rebellion. A
photograph of the Ting-Wong guardians of the portal, Hong Kong, is by Lai Fong. The
remaining six photographs are by unidentified photographers. A studio photograph depicting a
staged "demonstration" of ivory carving dates between 1860 and 1870, while one of a Shanghai
street barber dates to the 1870s. From between 1890 and 1899 there are two prints (one
hand-colored), of the Guangzhou guild compound in the city's International Settlement, and
two views of the water tower in Kiangsu Road, the first high-rise concrete structure in
China.
Three photographs taken in Hankou between 1875 and 1880 show tea being packed and shipped
for export by a Western trading company. Also from the Hankou area is a view of a pailou, or
commemorative arch, with a city gate in the distance, taken in the 1860s or 1870s.
A view inside Beijing's Qianmen gate by the French photographer, Paul Champion, dates to
1865.
Picturesque views include the "Lucky Rock" in Xiamen, attributed to St. Julian Hugh Edwards
(ca. 1870) and a view of cows in the former village of Wong Nai Chong near Hong Kong from
between 1880 and 1890. A view of a Confucian temple on the Qinhuai River, Nanjing, was taken
by Pow Kee in the 1870s.
The informal (i.e. non-official) portrait of Li Hongzhang, viceroy of Zhili, was made by
Liang Shitai in 1879, while two views of the viceroy's state barges, taken in 1894, are
unattributed. The formal group portrait of the Anting taotai, or circuit intendent, with his
mother and two wives, was made by Kung Tai in 1877 or 1878. An image of the militia under
the command of Colonel Cooke, the commander of the Anglo-Chinese force at Ningbo, was taken
by Major James Crombie Watson around 1870.
Arrangement
Arranged in a single series:
Series I: Views and scenes of China,
1860-1900.
Indexing Terms
Subjects - Names
Li, Hongzhang, 1823-1901
Champion, Paul, 1838-after 1877
Watson, James Crombie, Major, 1833-1908
Lai, Fong, approximately
1839-1890
Liang, Shitai
Kung, Tai
Subjects - Corporate Bodies
Pow Kee Studio
Subjects - Topics
Architecture -- China -- Ming-Ch'ing
Dynasties, 1368-1912
City walls -- China
Guilds -- China
Pagodas -- China
Buddhist temples -- China
Tianjin (China)--Description and travel
Subjects - Places
Guangzhou (China) -- Description and travel
Hankou (Wuhan, China) -- Description and travel
Hong Kong -- Description and travel
Nanjing Shi (China) -- Description and travel
Ningbo Shi (China) -- Description and travel
Shanghai (China) -- Description and travel
Xiamen (Xiamen Shi, China) -- Description and travel
Genres and Forms of Material
Albumen prints -- China -- 19th century
Group portraits -- China -- 19th century
Studio portraits -- China -- 19th century
Photographs, Original.
Box 1
Series I.
Views and scenes of China,
1860-1900
2006.R.1-1
Photographer unidentified, [Street Barber, Shanghai],
1870s
Scope and Content Note
The barber and his customer are wearing summer clothing.
2006.R.1-2
Liang Shitai (See Tay), [Portrait of Li Hongzhang, Viceroy of
Zhili],
1875
Scope and Content Note
The Chinese inscription written on the background of the photograph reads: In the
fourth year of the Guangxu reign, in the Dingmao year, in late spring, in the
intercalary third month, on the xiahan [___] day, photographed in our own Academy, in
the off-duty parlor; respectfully signed by Liang Shitai staying [at the time] in
Tianjin, at the Apricot Flower Residence. Translation and date provided by Oliver
Moore.
In this portrait Li Hongzhang is wearing summer clothing.
Li Hongzhang (1823-1901) was one of the most powerful officials of the late Qing
Dynasty. A key figure in China's industrial and military modernization, he served in
key positions of the Imperial Court, including as the premier viceroy of Zhili.
2006.R.1-3
Watson, Major James Crombie, [Local Militia under Colonel Cooke, Ningbo,
Zhejiang],
circa 1870
Scope and Content Note
Written on mount: Artillery.
James Edward Cooke was born in Jamaica, the son of a planter. He was educated in
Bristol, England, after which he joined the British Royal Navy. After leaving the navy
he became master of a vessel owned by King & Co., an African Gold Coast
exploration company, at the age of 22.
Cooke arrived in the trading port of Ningbo in 1861 as a mate on the British barque
Alice. Shortly after the
Alice's arrival, her captain was murdered by some of his crew. Acting as
the ship's temporary master, Cooke delivered the vessel to Hong Kong. He next served
aboard the
SS Paoushun, first as a mate and then as its
captain. The
SS Paoushun was part of the forces of
General Ward, an American mercenary soldier who was the commanding officer of the
Anglo-Imperial Chinese contingent fighting the Taiping rebellion. Cooke took charge of
General Ward's forces after the general was killed in action. He also fought Taiping
rebels under then-Colonel Charles George Gordon.
Following the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion in 1864, Cook, now a brigadier,
became the commander of the Anglo-Chinese Military Contingent in Chekiang province
headquartered at Ningbo. He held this position for 16 years until he died in Ningbo in
1881.
2006.R.1-4
Photographer unidentified, [Water Tower, Kiangsu Road, Shanghai, with British
policeman in Foreground],
between 1890 and
1900
2006.R.1-5
Photographer unidentified, [View of Water Tower and Kiangsu Road Bridge from
Hongkou, Shanghai],
between 1890 and
1900
2006.R.1-6
Edwards, St. Julian Hugh, (attributed), Lucky Stone of Amoy,
ca. 1870
Scope and Content Note
Title from caption written on mount. The site is Xiamen, Fujian.
2006.R.1-7
Photographer unidentified, [State Barge of Li Hongzhang, Viceroy of
Zhili],
1894
Scope and Content Note
The barge is traveling from Tianjin to Baoding Fu, then capital of Zhili.
2006.R.1-8
Photographer unidentified, [State Barges of Li Hongzhang, Viceroy of
Zhili],
1894
2006.R.1-9
Kung Tai, [The Anching Taotai and His Family],
1877 or
1878
Scope and Content Note
Family portrait of a taotai (local governor) with his mother and two wives. All are
wearing winter clothing. Mounted on reverse of 2006.R.1-9a.
2006.R.1-9a
Lai Fong,Ting-Wong or Guardians of the Pavilion,
between 1870 and
1890
Scope and Content Note
Title from printed caption pasted below image. Numbered on caption: No. 350. Mounted
on reverse of 2006.R.1-9.
2006.R.1-10
Photographer unidentified, [A Pailou with a City Gate in the
Distance],
1860s or
1870s
Scope and Content Note
Lower Yangtze area, near Hankou (?).
2006.R.1-11
Photographer unidentified, [Milking Cows, Wong Nei Chong Village near Hong
Kong],
between 1880 and
1890
Scope and Content Note
Annotation on mount above image: Hong Kong. Chow Chow dogs in the foreground.
2006.R.1-12
Photographer unidentified, [Ivory Carving],
between 1860 and
1870
Scope and Content Note
A man "demonstrates" ivory carving. The ivory would have been carved in Guangzhou and
likely sold in a shop in Shanghai.
2006.R.1-13
Photographer unidentified, [Carrying Half Chests of Tea, Hankou],
between 1875 and
1880
Scope and Content Note
Annotation on verso: (Shanghai). View of a side street showing method of carrying
half chests of tea. Chinese policeman in foreground.
2006.R.1-14
Photographer unidentified, [Tea Packed for Shipping, Hankou],
between 1875 and
1880
Scope and Content Note
Numbered in negative: 30. Annotation on verso: Messrs. Rodewald & Heath at
work.
2006.R.1-15
Photographer unidentified, [Loading Tea at Hankou for Shipment over the
Yangtze River],
between 1875 and
1880
Scope and Content Note
Writen on verso: Shanghai. Shipping tea from the Bund.
2006.R.1-16
Milsom, Lieutenant Colonel E., [Tea House near the City God Temple (Cheng
huang miao), Shanghai],
1868
Scope and Content Note
Annotation on mount: Tea house, tea gardens, Shanghai [___] 1868. Lt. Col. E.
Milsom.
2006.R.1-17
Milsom, Lieutenant Colonel E., [Pagoda and Temple Damaged during the Taiping
Rebellion],
1868
Scope and Content Note
Shanghai area.
2006.R.1-18
Champion, Paul, [Inside Qianmen Gate, Beijing],
1865
Scope and Content Note
Market and temples inside the city walls.
2006.R.1-19
Photographer unidentified, [Temple in the International Settlement,
Shanghai],
between 1890 and
1900
Scope and Content Note
Numbered in negative: 10. Image same as 2006.R.20.
2006.R.1-20
Photographer unidentified, [Temple in the International Settlement,
Shanghai],
between 1890 and
1900
Scope and Content Note
Numbered in negative: 10. Hand colored. Image same as 2006.R.19.
2006.R.1-21
Pow Kee, [Confucian Temple on the Qinhuai River, Nanjing],
1870s