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"

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. 39 (reproduced)

Wellcome Collection 19640i