Felice Beato
1861
Fane's Horse, China
[Regimental groups, Tientsin, 1861]

Albumen print
19.8 x 25.7 cm
 
Bassenge Photography Auctions
Photography 19th-21st Century (1 June 2011) Lot: 4017
 
From the Bassenge Auction Catalogue:
 
Mounted to card, annotated with sitters' names and Tientsin 1861 in ink below the image on the mount.
 
In 1860 Walter Fane raised the irregular cavalry force of Fane's Horse to fight in China during the Second Opium War 1856 - 1860. Fane's Horse fought in the engagements of Sinho, Chinkiawbaw, Pulli-chi-on as well as in the sacking of Peking under Fane's cousin Field Marshal Sir John Michel. For these services Michel was nominated as a companion of the Order of the Bath. The regiment was later re-named the 19th (King George's Own) Lancers in the Indian Army. Felice Beato, a Venetian by birth, initially worked as a photographer in England. Around 1854 he began working with his brother-in-law James Robertson, based in Constantinople. Felice Beato took a group photo of Fane's Horse circa 1860 in China, the basis of the attribution of this print.

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Additional images from a series of portraits of Regimental groups taken in Tientsin in 1861 are known. Information on these and the justifications for the Felice Beato attribution are requested. [September 2011]
 
LL/43691