Weighing tea for exportation. Photographer: Thomson, John
Scope & Content:
Genre: Portrait Photography (generic types) View showing tea being weighed on scales supported by sheerlegs, with a European figure seated in the foreground.
Genre: Portrait Photography (generic types) 'A number of men may be seen during the tea season in front of the house, employed, as shown in the photograph, in picking, sampling, and sorting the tea, or in preparing the chests for its reception...'
A tea-tasting room, Canton. Photographer: Thomson, John
Scope & Content:
'This photograph represents two Chinese tea merchants in a foreign taster's room, awaiting an offer for their samples. Every foreign house in Canton that does any trade in tea has a room specially fitted up for the accommodation of the taster. The windows of the room have a northern aspect, and ...
Genre: Portrait Photography Half-length portrait of a Chinese compradore, 'or treasurer in a foreign mercantile house—a man who, by his legitimate savings and private trading speculations, has accumulated a large fortune.'
Genre: Portrait Photography (generic types) View of a group of Chinese men examining coins: 'Schroffing, or testing and examining dollars, is an operation conducted by the compradore's staff in receiving payment for cargoes, to ascertain that no counterfeit coin has been introduced...When all t...
Genre: Urban Topographical Photography View looking along the Praya at Macao, with the bay to the right: 'The principal residences front the bay, round which runs a broad carriage-drive, known as the Praya Grande, shown in the illustration. This picture was taken from the hill above Bishop's Ba...
A mountain pass in the island of Formosa. Photographer: Thomson, John
Scope & Content:
Genre: Landscape Photography View of a river running through forest scenery: 'The view of the mountain-pass, taken near La-ko-li, on one of the lower spurs of the central mountains, is intended to convey an idea of the grandeur of the scenery which is to be found in the interior of this 'Isla F...