A busy street corner with traders stopping for a tankard of beer and an artist painting a pub sign. Engraving, c. 1751, after W. Hogarth.

A fashionable young lady with large plume in her hat being carried through the town in a sedan chair. Etching, c. 1796.

Social gathering with a view of the thermal baths, Bagnéres de Bigorre. Lithograph by J. Jacottet and A. Bayot.

Hong Kong: a sedan chair at the foot of the Peak. Photograph by John Thomson, 1868/1871.

The carnival in Rome (?): an old man is playing the guitar and young women are gathered around a sedan chair carrying a man. Wood engraving after L. Alvarez Catalá.

A busy street corner with traders stopping for a tankard of beer and an artist painting a pub sign. Engraving by T. Cook, c. 1800, after W. Hogarth.

European men and women being transported by Indian men, in a coach drawn by oxen, in sedan chairs, and in a carriage pulled by men. Wood engraving, 1875.

Two men sitting with a sedan chair in a Hong Kong street waiting for custom, one smokes his pipe. Wood engraving by J.C. after J. Thomson.

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The bearers wear golden cloaks. A woman is about to step into the chair. A long snake-like figurehead stretches out before the chair

A collection of Indian costumes, types and occupations. Gouache paintings by an Indian artist.

A collection of Indian costumes, types and occupations

1 painting : (album page 32, painting numbers 42) : gouache on mica ; sight 11 x 14 cm

Men preparing to carry a woman in a sedan chair. Gouache painting on mica by an Indian artist.

The sedan chair is painted green and black and decorated with painted gazelles. Two soldiers stand in front of it to left

1 painting : (album page 33, painting numbers 45) : gouache on mica ; sight 11 x 14 cm

Four men carrying a person reclining in a sedan chair. Gouache painting on mica by an Indian artist.

The Indian gentleman appears to be of noble standing. He wears a white cloak, large hooped earrings and elaborate red slippers. He receives a white card bearing a red marking from a bowing figure before him wearing a pointed hat

1 print : aquatint, with watercolour ; image 23.2 x 28.7 cm

An Indian man holding a feather and carrying a two-pronged fork beneath his belt walks by a shore under a parasol carried by an assistant behind followed by other figures carrying his sedan chair. Coloured aquatint by Hassel after C. Gold, 1800.

The bearers are dressed in red and white. An unseen man on the other side of the chair holds up a parasol. The sedan chair is painted green and decorated with painted flowers. One soldier stands in front of it to left

1 painting : (album page 34, painting numbers 46) : gouache on mica ; sight 11 x 14 cm

"Life in China, X. A Hong Kong chair. A stranger landing at Hong Kong is at once known by the public chair coolies who surround him, and cut off his advance with a crescent of chairs on the wharf. If the stranger be at all a timid person, he will conclude from the barrier of chairs drawn up in front, the wild gestures of the half-dressed, ferocious looking coolies, that in the interests of self-preservation he must at once either retire to the boat, or consign himself to the care of the first chair bearers. It may be, in spite of remonstrances, and before he has time to reflect, he will find himself in a sedan on the shoulders of two Chinamen who are bearing him off to the hotel. These sedan chairs of Hong Kong take the place of the cabs of European cities, and also of private conveyances, as the residents who can afford the luxury keep private chairs and bearers who are dressed in a kind of livery. The public chairs and bearers are licensed by government, each chair having attached to it a board bearing a printed form of legal tariff. There are chair stands in front of the places of public resort, and at the wharfs, and corners of the principal streets, where the bearers keep a sharp look out for profitable customers, such as sailors from the men-of-war or merchant ships in the harbour, who, when they have a run ashore, spend a considerable portion of their pay in hiring a chair to carry them about for the day. The chair coolies make it their business to obtain a knowledge of the habits of the residents; a new comer has only to be about a month in the place, when his habits, his residence, and the houses which he is accustomed to visit, will be so thoroughly known, that after a late dinner he has only to step into the first chair to assure his being set down before his own door without a word having been exchanged. Next morning, his bearers of the previous night will appear just as he is going to office, to receive their hire from the boy in-waiting."—The graphic, loc. cit.

1 print : wood engraving ; image 15 x 22.6 cm

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Sedan chairs

Images

Works

Men preparing to carry a woman in a sedan chair. Gouache painting on mica by an Indian artist.

Four men carrying a person reclining in a sedan chair. Gouache painting on mica by an Indian artist.

An Indian man holding a feather and carrying a two-pronged fork beneath his belt walks by a shore under a parasol carried by an assistant behind followed by other figures carrying his sedan chair. Coloured aquatint by Hassel after C. Gold, 1800.

Four men carrying a person reclining in a sedan chair. Gouache painting on mica by an Indian artist.

Two men sitting with a sedan chair in a Hong Kong street waiting for custom, one smokes his pipe. Wood engraving by J.C. after J. Thomson.

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Wellcome uses cookies.

Sedan chairs

Images

Works

Men preparing to carry a woman in a sedan chair. Gouache painting on mica by an Indian artist.

Four men carrying a person reclining in a sedan chair. Gouache painting on mica by an Indian artist.

An Indian man holding a feather and carrying a two-pronged fork beneath his belt walks by a shore under a parasol carried by an assistant behind followed by other figures carrying his sedan chair. Coloured aquatint by Hassel after C. Gold, 1800.

Four men carrying a person reclining in a sedan chair. Gouache painting on mica by an Indian artist.

Two men sitting with a sedan chair in a Hong Kong street waiting for custom, one smokes his pipe. Wood engraving by J.C. after J. Thomson.

Wellcome Collection

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