Fangguangyan monastery, Fujian province, China: three monks at the meal table. Photograph by John Thomson, 1870-18711.

  • Thomson, J. (John), 1837-1921.
Date:
1870-1871
Reference:
19830i
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About this work

Description

Fangguanyan monastery was located in Yongtai county about 30 kilometres from Fuzhou, on the upper reach of the Min River. Here three monks of Fangguangyan are at the meal table. The youngest one was a boy 'full of vivacity'. According to Thomson their diet comprised only vegetables. However, he noted that all three of them were smokers and liked to indulge in tobacco. Thomson also suspected that the older man smoked opium. Fujian, being a sub-tropical country, harboured a variety of tropical diseases, including malaria. At the time people regularly used opium and tobacco as a prophylactic against malaria and as relief for miasmic fevers. The right-hand frame of the photograph is crossed through

Publication/Creation

1870-1871

Physical description

1 photograph : glass photonegative, wet collodion : stereograph

Lettering

Blind Buddhist bonzu Bears Thomson's negative number: "783"

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. 87 (reproduced)

Reference

Wellcome Collection 19830i

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    Closed stores
    By appointmentManual request

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