Canton (Guangzhou), Kwangtung province, China: a Cantonese woman. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869.

A (pregnant?) woman, wearing a silk robe, standing in a doorway on a verandah, her left hand resting on the door frame

Portraits were a vital aspect of John Thomson's photographic work, and a regular source of his income. Throughout his photographic journeys in China, portraiture remained a popular genre. While adapting to the native taste for showing the subject straight on, Thomson also tried to give as accurate a record as possible of a wide range of Chinese society and life. Among different groups of people, he was particularly interested in portraying women of varied social backgrounds, from affluent Cantonese ladies to their maids, ordinary peasant women in Fujian, Manchu brides and so on. This Cantonese lady is wearing a silk robe, and a stylish hair ornament. In the background is an elaborately carved doorway on a verandah. Her costume and background suggest she is from a well-to-do family

1869

1 photograph : glass photonegative, wet collodion : stereograph

Cantonese woman, China Bears Thomson's negative number: "679"

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

China through the lens of John Thomson, 1868-1872, Beijing: Beijing World Art Museum, 2009, p. 123 (reproduced)

Wellcome Collection 19600i