Amoy (Xiamen), Fukien province, China: a temple. Photograph by John Thomson, 1870/1871.

The edge of a building surrounded by trees and rocks. A pool in the foreground. A path leads to the temple. Religious buildings occupied an important place in John Thomson's work. As he remarked, temples were everywhere in China, and they were for him the "incontestable proof" of the world's most ancient architectural style. Here is Thomson’s ideal Chinese temple scene: a miniature version of 'western paradise', the building sits in a landscape garden comprising trees, rocks and a pond