A woman with bound feet, lying on a bench in a photographer’s studio, with a book

A woman with bound feet, lying on a bench in a photographer’s studio, with a book

Notes

University of Bristol - Historical Photographs of China reference number: Ch-s04. This photograph was pasted to a page disbound from an album. The woman in this posed studio photograph is looking towards the camera and holding a folded book, as if reading. The woman may well have been a courtesan (prostitute / sex worker). A variant of this scene was reproduced on post cards, with captions such as ‘RICH CHINESE LADY or ‘THE BOUND-FOOTED SHANGHAI LADY’. See Ch-s03 (same flooring) and JC-s371.

Location

Shanghai

Estimated Date

1870-1880

Dimensions

172mm x 121mm

Material

Paper

Media

Black and white photograph

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