Peking, Pechili province, China. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869.

  • Thomson, J. (John), 1837-1921.
Date:
1869
Reference:
19636i
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view Peking, Pechili province, China. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869.

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Credit

Peking, Pechili province, China. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Selected images from this work

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About this work

Description

Three men, two older with beards, one younger with a moustache, sitting in a garden. A building behind them to the left, a rockery to the right. The men are three Chinese Ministers at the Office of Foreign Affairs in the late Qing: (left to right) Shen Guifeng, Dong Xun and Mao Changxi. A native of Jiangsu, Shen Guifeng (1818-1881) was best known for his anti-opium policy and for his contributions to the state-run modernizing movement – the 'yangwu movement'. In this portrait, Thomson intended to show that Chinese officials did not spend their time in idleness and luxury; rather, they led laborious lives and dressed in simple robes. But more importantly, for him these three individuals 'were as fine-looking men as ever our own Cabinet can boast. All of them had an air of quiet, dignified repose'

Publication/Creation

1869

Physical description

1 photograph : glass photonegative, wet collodion ; glass approximately 25.5 x 20.5 cm (10 x 8 in.)

Lettering

3 members of Tsungli (Yamin ?) or Foreign Office, China. Chief Officers, Foreign Office, Peking, Mau Ta Jin, Tung Ta Jin, Shen Ta Jin Bears Thomson's negative number: "694" and ''694 b''

References note

John Thomson, Through China with a camera, London 1898, f.p. 252, "Members of the Tsungli Yamen" [detail], and text pp. 251-2 naming "Cheng-lin, Tung-sean, and Maou-cheng He, ministers of the Foreign Board", though not specifically as sitters in the photograph
Stephen White, John Thomson life and photographs, London, 1985, plate 112
China through the lens of John Thomson, 1868-1872, Beijing: Beijing World Art Museum, 2009, p. 22 (reproduced)

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

Reference

Wellcome Collection 19636i

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Where to find it

  • glass negative no. 694

    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
    19636i.1
    By appointmentManual request

    Note

  • glass negative no. 694 b

    LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
    19636i.2
    By appointmentManual request

    Note

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