FIELD ALBUM OF WESTERN CHINA — YUNNAN–SICHUAN CORRIDOR, ca. 1928–1937
OVERVIEW
A photographic field album containing ninety-six silver-gelatin prints, each roughly 4½ × 6¾ inches, mounted recto and verso to cream leaves. Once disbound now housed in an archival portfolio.
The sequence presents an extended itinerary through the southwestern highlands of Republican-era China, beginning in the rural uplands of Yunnan, passing through Kunming, and continuing northward into the mountain-temple belt of western Sichuan or northern Yunnan.
Themes include urban architecture, religious sculpture, pilgrimage landscapes, and ethnographic scenes of rural labor and caravan travel.
The photographer—presently unidentified—demonstrates deliberate compositional intelligence, constructing narrative progressions that move from approach and threshold to interior, devotion, and departure. The consistency of print stock, image quality, and sequencing strongly suggests single-maker authorship and on-site development during travel between approximately 1928 and 1937.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION & CONDITION
+++ 24 album leaves (from a disbound album, punched twice at inner margin), medium-weight cream wove paper. [Now in an archival portfolio]
+++ Prints mounted by adhesive; most retain narrow white borders.
+++ Mild toning to edges; light silvering visible under raking light.
+++ Overall condition: Very Good, with clarity and tonal range well above average for field work of the period.
CONDITION SUMMARY
+++ Prints uniformly well-preserved; mounts stable; minor adhesive darkening. No captions or inscriptions lost.
+++ Condition suitable for exhibition or scholarly reproduction.
CHRONOLOGY & DATING
Dating rests on five converging indicators:
1. Vehicles beneath the Kunming arches (C-series): early box-body lorries and rickshaws typical of 1930–1935.
2. Paper stock and mounting form: Western commercial silver paper with white borders, common in late-1920s to mid-1930s professional practice.
3. Dress and infrastructure: transitional urban garments and newly installed telegraph poles mark the high-Republican modernization phase.
4. The Kunming arches were rebuilt in concrete in the 1920s
5. Lorries with box bodies enter Kunming widely c. 1930.
Probable window: 1928–1937.
SCHOLARLY SIGNIFICANCE
Rare pre-1949 visual documentation of Yunnan and Sichuan temple polychromy before mid-century repainting. Provides material for comparative studies of southwest Buddhist iconography, architectural syncretism, and Republican modernization. Complements field work of Joseph F. Rock and Harvard–Yenching expeditions while offering a distinct regional perspective.
Complete Summary via this PDF - Click for access.
Item #22079
Price: $3,500.00
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