China: a Manchu lady with her daughter in-law, Beijing. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869.

Two women outside in front of a house, one standing, the other seated. The standing one wearing a ring with tassles on it. They have unbound feet, but both are wearing elevated shoes (pattens) in the Manchu fashion

A Manchu lady with her daughter in-law, Beijing, 1871-2. This is a full-length portrait of the same Manchu lady with her daughter-in-law as in the half-length portrait of them (Wellcome Library no.19644i): in both, the older lady looks rather severe, whereas in another photograph of her with her grandchildren (Wellcome Library no. 19662i), she smiles at the camera. In all three photographs the daughter-in-law looks sideways, suggesting her low position in front of her mother-in-law. In this particular photograph, it was also likely that Thomson tried to illustrate the unbound natural feet of Manchu ladies

1869

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

Manchu women, Peking Bears Thomson's negative number: "696"

China through the lens of John Thomson, 1868-1872, Beijing: Beijing World Art Museum, 2009, p. 39 (reproduced)

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

Wellcome Collection 19640i