Peking, Pechili province, China: enamellers at work. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869.

Four young adults enamelling vases at a trestle table in the foreground. Another boy, in the background to the left, working at a treadle lathe. In the late Qing, there was suddenly a craze for enamelware, which could fetch a very high price in the market-place. However the art of making enamelware was becoming a rare skill, with only one or two shops in Beijing managing to carry on the tradition. This shop shown in this photograph was owned by a Manchu. It was situated not far from the French Legation quarter in Dongjiao minxiang. The workers here are rather boyish-looking, but Thomson was very impressed by their perfectionist skills in colour-blending