China: Manchu women buying flowers for their headdress, Beijing. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869.

  • Thomson, J. (John), 1837-1921.
Date:
1869
Reference:
19654i
  • Pictures

Selected images from this work

View 2 images

About this work

Description

Two women buying flower decorations or bows as hair-ornaments from two street-vendors with large boxes of such goods. As an ethnic mark of identity, the headdress played an important part in the life of a Manchu bannerwoman. While still a girl, she would wear a single pigtail hanging behind, with the front hair cut into a bang. After marriage, however, she must arrange the hair on the top of the head and put a fan-shaped hair coronet on the arrangement. This hairstyle is called 'Qitou' (which means hair for the Manchu nobility) or 'Jingtou' (which means hair of the capital). Many women also liked to wear flower-press hair ornaments made of gold, silver or emerald

Publication/Creation

1869

Physical description

1 photograph : glass photonegative, wet collodion, stereograph ; glass approximately 10.5 x 21.5 cm (4 x 8 in.)

Lettering

Manchu women being sold hair ornaments Bears Thomson's negative number: "703"

References note

China through the lens of John Thomson, 1868-1872, Beijing: Beijing World Art Museum, 2009, p. 32 (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 19654i

Languages

Subjects

Where to find it

  • LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores
    By appointmentManual request

    Note

Permanent link