Swatow (Shantou), Kwangtung (Guangdong) province, China: a girl. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869.

  • Thomson, J. (John), 1837-1921.
Date:
1869
Reference:
19884i
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About this work

Description

A girl with an elaborate coiffure, wearing a white costume, standing against a screen. A three-quarter length view. Despite facing the camera, her eyes are shying away from it. Her clasped hands further convey her nervousness. Unlike the portrait head of this girl (Thomson's no. 810), she appears here more as an individual than as a mere display of a type of hair coiffure

Publication/Creation

1869

Physical description

1 photograph : glass photonegative, wet collodion : stereograph ; glass approximately 10.5 x 21.5 cm (4 x 8 in.)

Lettering

Swatow girl Bears Thomson's negative number: "809"

Notes

This is one of a collection of original glass negatives made by John Thomson. The negatives, made between 1868 and 1872, were purchased from Thomson by Sir Henry Wellcome in 1921

References note

China through the lens of John Thomson, 1868-1872, Beijing: Beijing World Art Museum, 2009, p. (reproduced)

Reference

Wellcome Collection 19884i

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  • LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
    By appointmentManual request

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