Rare images revealing 19th century China set to fetch £20,000
Rare images revealing 19th century China set to fetch £20,000
Rarely seen photos taken by one of the first British photographers to explore China 150 years ago have emerged for sale for £20,000.
John Thomson travelled to the Far East in 1868, establishing a studio in the Commercial Bank building in Hong Kong.
He used it as a base to explore remote parts of the vast country for the next four years, photographing landmarks, scenery and the native population.
One striking image shows a prisoner in chains with his head poking through a board which has words on it written in Chinese.
In another, a man poses next to a giant camel statue in the grounds around the Ming tombs of the Forbidden City.
Thomson photographed archers, street sellers and farmers, as well as a woman applying make up and elders in a temple.
© Provided by Daily Mail MailOnline logo
There are also images of traditional pagodas, bustling city scenes and mountainside villages.
In many cases, he was the first Westerner the people he photographed had encountered.
Almost 100 of his photos feature in a rare first edition of 'Thomson Illustrations of China and Its People' (1873), which is going under the hammer with London-based Forum Auctions.
It is being sold by a member of the book trade.
Max Hasler, specialist at Forum Auctions, said: 'John Thomson was a pioneering Scottish photographer, who was one of the first known photographers to travel to the Far East and document the people, landscapes and artefacts of the Chinese culture.
'He visited various remote and almost unpopulated regions, where many of the people he encountered had never seen a Westerner before, let alone a camera.
'These represent one of the best photographic records of China from that period, and they record a world that would vanish almost entirely in the years after.'
The sale takes place tomorrow.
Reference: Harry Howard, History Correspondent For Mailonline
Articles - Latest
- DNA ANALYSIS SPANNING 9 GENERATIONS OF PEOPLE REVEALS MARRIAGE PRACTICES OF MYSTERIOUS WARRIOR CULTURE
- LOST CITIES HIDDEN FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS DISCOVERED UNDER FOREST
- LETTER: ALAN ARKIN OBITUARY
- ARCHAEOLOGISTS CRACK MYSTERY OF ANCIENT MAYA AFTER 7,000-YEAR-OLD REMAINS FOUND
- NEW JERSEY REP. DONALD PAYNE JR. DEAD AT 65
- WORLD'S TALLEST WOMAN' MARIA FELICIANA DOS SANTOS, 7FT3, DIES AGED 77
- UNDERWORLD DISCOVERY CHALLENGES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN EVOLUTION
- MUSLIM SOLDIER MEMORIAL FUND £1 MILLION TO IMPROVE RELATIONS AFTER ISLAMOPHOBIA ISSUES
- SCIENTISTS DISCOVER 1ST-OF-ITS-KIND CELL PART BORN FROM A SWALLOWED MICROBE
- NYC TIKTOK STAR EVA EVANS DIES AGED 29
- LADY GARDNER OF PARKES, CONSERVATIVE PEER WHO CHAMPIONED WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE EU AND UN – OBITUARY
- WEBB TELESCOPE DETECTS LIGHT FROM AN EARTH-LIKE PLANET
- FORMER LABOUR MINISTER AND CROSSBENCH PEER FRANK FIELD DIES AGED 81
- LOURDES PORTILLO DEAD AT 80:OSCAR-NOMINATED FILM DIRECTOR HAS PASSED AWAY
- VAMPIRE' NEUTRON STAR BLASTS ARE RELATED TO JETS TRAVELING AT NEAR-LIGHT SPEEDS
- THE MOON IS 40 MILLION YEARS OLDER — EXPLAINED
- BARBARA O.JONES DEAD AT 82: ACTRESS WHO STARRED ALONGSIDE MUHAMMAD ALI IN TV SERIES, HAS PASSED AWAY
- SIR CHIPS KESWICK, SCION OF THE JARDINE MATHESON DYNASTY WHO CHAIRED HAMBROS AND ARSENAL – OBITUARY
- NORMAN JEWISON OBITUARY
- TED TOLEMAN OBITUARY
- NASA FINDS MUTANT BACTERIA ON ISS THAT DOESN'T EXIST ON EARTH
- KENYA’S MILITARY CHIEF DIES IN HELICOPTER CRASH
- TERRY ANDERSON, US JOURNALIST HELD HOSTAGE NEARLY 7 YEARS IN LEBANON, DEAD AT 76
Articles - Most Read
- Main
- Contact Us
- The science behind Ouija boards
- Cosmic Consciousness - What is Cosmic Consciousness-2
- Cosmic Consciousness-Introduction
- Cosmic Consciousness - Introduction-2
- MASSIVE 6.1 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE HITS NEW ZEALAND AS NATION STILL REELING FROM CYCLONE
- ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNRAVEL THE TRUTH OF APHRODITE, GODDESS OF LOVE, ON VALENTINE'S DAY
- The Human Condition-Thomas Keating
- Cosmic Consciousness First Words - 1V - 2
- Cosmic Consciousness First Words - V -
- Cosmic Consciousness V - 2
- Cosmic consciousness - First Words - IV
- Cosmic Consciousness - What is Cosmic Consciousness?
- Evolution and Devolution-Chapter 2
- The Human Condition - Thomas keating-3
- The Human Condition-2-Thomas Keating
- Drinking From The Mountain Stream - Milarepa
- Cosmic Consciousness-On the Plane of Self Consciousness
- The Human Condition - 4
- Cosmic Consciousness - 3 - On the Plane of Self Consciousness
- Evolution and Devolution-Chapter 1
- The Human Condition - 6
- Shakyamuni Buddha or India the 1st “Black Revolutionary Hero.”
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness - 2
- Milarepa's World
- The Human Condition - 5
- Milarepa's World-2
- The Buddhist System of Liberation
- Contemplation and the Divine Therapy - 2
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness IV
- The Buddhist System of Liberation - 2
- JERRY RAWLINGS, GHANAIAN STRONG MAN WHO CAME TO POWER IN A COUP BUT INTRODUCED DEMOCRACY – OBITUARY
- On the Plane of Self Consciousness IV - 2