MILTON MILLER, EMIL RUSFELDT (The Hong Kong Photographic Rooms) and others

'Canton', 1880s-90s

Details
MILTON MILLER, EMIL RUSFELDT (The Hong Kong Photographic Rooms) and others
'Canton', 1880s-90s
Album containing fifty-six albumen prints including one two-part and one three-part panorama, 7½ x 22½ in. and 7¾ x 32¾ in., the latter with printed series label on verso, mounted to inside front cover, other sizes approx. 8½ x 11½ in. or the reverse, one with indistinct signature in the negative, all but two titled and numbered on printed caption labels and two titled in German in ink on mounts, half black morocco, titled in gilt on front cover, folio.
Provenance
By descent to the present owner whose grandfather was a European aristocrat and diplomat (b. 1858) who spent time on diplomatic missions in Japan in the late 1880s. See Christie's London 30 April 1997. See also lots 191 and 193 in this sale.
Literature
Worswick, Imperial China: Photographs 1850-1912, pp. 18, 19 and 57 (illus.); Goodrich and Cameron, The Face of China, pp. 27, 71 and 84 (illus.)

Lot Essay

An album devoted to Canton comprising views, architectural studies and portraits including a three-part panoramic view of Wu-chou, the gateway to Kwangsi Province, possibly by Emil Rusfeldt, of the Hong Kong Photographic Rooms; a two-part panorama of Shameen; river scenes including one of the Dragon boats festival, damage in a western suburb; the Temple of Heaven, Pachoao Pagoda, the Flower Pagoda, Ting-Wong, Wa Jum Temple, a Chinese grave described as one of the largest on the White Cloud Mountains; 'Execution Grounds' being used as a factory for pottery; an image of a flower-boat, often used by prostitutes; two street scenes; a copy print of an execution scene, attributed to W. Saunders; the Examination Hall; views of the summer residence of the Tartar General and a group portrait of him with his attendants; interior views; a bamboo pavilion; and portraits of Chinese priests praying, the abbot of Wa Lum Temple, 'Three old wiseacres of Kwang-Tung', Cantonese musicians, Chinese actors and a copy of a painting showing one of the Chinese aristocracy of Canton.

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