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Liang Shitai
Portrait of Li Hongzhang in Tientsin
1879
Albumen print, hand-coloured
30 x 24 cm
Bassenge Photography Auctions
Photography, 6 June 2018, Lot: 4092
LL/82529
Liang Shitai was a photographer from Hongkong and ran one of the most well-known studios. He began working at the beginning of the 1870s in Hongkong. In 1876 he moved the studio to Shanghai and then to Tianjin in 1880. He photographed some of the most important political figures in the late Qing Dynasty.
Li Hongzhang was a high-ranking Chinese politician, general and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty. He quelled several major rebellions and served in important positions in the Qing imperial court, including the Viceroy of Zhili, Huguang and Liangguang. A print of this image with similar hand-coloring is in the collection of the New York Public Library.
Lit.: Terry Bennett. History of Photography in China. Chinese Photographers 1844 - 1879. London 2013, ill. p. 261 (with different hand-coloring).
Jeffrey W. Cody/Frances Terpak (eds.). Brush and Shutter. Early Photography in China. Los Angeles 2001, p. 126, plate 6.
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