c1900 Photograph Album Shanghai Hong Kong Panoramas Boxer Rebellion China

Description: Album of Photographs of Shanghai, China and Hong Kong, likely compiled by a soldier with the 3rd Baluch Battalion, 30th Bombay Infantry, around 1900Hardcover album, 14.25x10.5 inches. Half-leather over heavy slate-blue boards (rebacked). Consisting of 53 photographs affixed to thick cardstock leaves, including large, stunning panoramas of Shanghai and Hong Kong. Most of the photographs are of China and Hong Kong. Thirty-five of the photographs are large – four panoramas and 30 8x10 or similar, plus 18 4.5x6 inches. Large photographs (other than panoramas) mounted one to a page, some of the smaller have two per page. Some captions in white on the pages, including some with people identified. The captions date the album to 1900-1903. Several images have photographer’s credit in the image, including three by I. Sequeira. The album contains two multi-page panoramas of Shanghai (one 4x22 inches, one 4x41 inches) and two three-page (four part) panoramas of Hong Kong – one from the harbor facing land and one from land facing the harbor. There is also a panorama of Interlaken, Switzerland. The photographs – all of which appear to be professionally taken – were likely compiled by a soldier with the 3rd Baluch Regiment, 30th Bombay Infantry in China and India (Pakistan Northwest Frontier) around the time of the Boxer Rebellion. Information given with the purchase was that an early owner was Jack Turner, a Scotsman; however, it is not clear that he was the original owner. The 3rd Baluch Battalion was a distinguished British Indian army regiment that fought in the Northwest Frontier and China in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The album indicates, but we have not been able to confirm, that the battalion may have served in China during the Boxer Rebellion as part of the Relief Expedition. Hong Kong imagesThe Hong Kong photographs include two stunning three-page panoramas of Hong Kong – one of the harbor from The Peak and one of Hong Kong’s Central from the harbor, with Queen’s Building in the center and Peak in the distance. There are also handsome images of a “Street Hong-Kong” which is actually Victoria Road; a large image entitled “Lymoon” meaning Lai Yue Mun, a village in Hong Kong; and one of the “Public Gardens” (Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens). Shanghai/China imagesShanghai photographs include the two large panoramas – one two-page showing the city in the foreground with harbor in background and one three-page showing the city and Bund from “Pootang” (Pudong). There is an arresting 8x10 portrait of China’s Li Hang Chang. Li Hang Chang (1823-1901) who was a Chinese statesman, general and diplomat in the late Ching dynasty. Credited with suppressing the Taiping Rebellion, he also played a major diplomatic role in the ending of the Boxer Rebellion, but died shortly after. Two other photos also relate to the Boxer Rebellion, showing Count Waldersee – one showing his arrival in Shanghai by ship and the other leading a military parade, likely also in Shanghai. Alfred Ludwig Heinrich Karl Graf von Waldersee (1832-1904) was a German field marshal who became chief of the imperial German general staff. He was appointed to command the relief force during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900; however, the fighting was mostly over by the time he arrived. Instead, he ordered many punitive expeditions in the Chinese countryside. Others include a Chinese execution, the 3rd Baluchis on the racecourse at Shanghai; a camp of the 3rd Baluchis at Shanghai; a parade of soldiers on the racecourse; a view of the Chinese City; Japanese marines marching through the city; a garden at the Mandarin’s Club; a dragon wall; a teahouse at the Yu Yuan Garden; Soochow Creek; The Shanghai Club; Soochow Pagoda; Confucian Temple, Ningbo; Shanghai – Astor House Hotel on left, German Consulate on right; Victoria Road, Hong Kong; Gate at Shanghai’s Mandarin (Yu Yuan) Garden; Six Men Eating Dinner – attributed to the Studio of Lai Afong (Afong Studio, Hong Kong, 1850s-1890), considered the most significant Chinese photographer of the 19th century; Chinese women, attributed to John Thomson. Military portraitsThe album contains a number of group military portraits. The first photograph in the album is entitled “Officers 3rd Baluch Battn., Chaman 1900”. Chaman is a border town near the boundary of Afghanistan and present-day Pakistan. The soldiers, both British and Indian, are identified, including Lt. Col. Mayne. Lt. Col R. G. C. Mayne commanded the 30th Bombay Infantry – 3rd Baluch Battalion. He led the battalion in heavy fighting in and around Mekran (Makran) in Baluchistan at the end of the 19th century, including taking of the fort at Turbat, for which he was given the Order of the Bath. Another image shows just the British officers, also taken in Chaman, and also including Mayne.A third military portrait is entitled “scenes of Musketry - Deolali, 1st Class 1903 (photo credit to Stewart and Son/Poona). Deolali is a British hill station which was an important army base and the location of an army staff college. A fourth group military portrait has no identification., but includes both Indian and British soldiers, and the photo credit is to I. Sequeira/Karachi. Ignatius Sequeira studied as a mechanical draftsman, then opened a photography studio in Karachi around 1900. He later became official photographer to the Mir of Khairpur (Pakistan, province of Sindh). Another shows a group of British with a silver cup with the engraving Sindh, likely for the Sindh Cup, a long-standing Pakistan cricket tournament – also credit to Sequeira. Another shows British India troops in camp at Shanghai, during theBoxer Rebellion, c1900. The other images in the album are of India, including several of the Taj Mahal and bathers in a river. Finally, there are eight attractive color and black and white images of Switzerland, including the two-page color panorama of Interlaken. Condition: Images are generally in very good condition. One image, a scene of Luzern, Switzerland is damaged (multiple scrapes) and one image is missing from the page. The two panoramas of Hong Kong are on opposite sides of the same boards and the three-page Shanghai panorama has one of the images affixed to the back side of another.

Price: 6800 USD

Location: Seattle, Washington

End Time: 2024-10-06T16:54:45.000Z

Shipping Cost: 15 USD