Chinese House, Penang
1865
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
17 × 25.7 cm (6 11/16 × 10 1/8 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, Cynthia Hazen Polsky Gift, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.583 (78b)
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of 19th-century Southeast Asia with John Thomson's *Chinese House, Penang* (1865), an albumen silver print capturing a striking Chinese residence amid Penang's multicultural bustle. Scottish photographer and explorer Thomson, renowned for his pioneering travels across Asia, documented everyday scenes during his 1865-1866 journey through British Malaya. This image likely showcases the ornate architecture of the Straits Chinese community—prosperous merchants blending Chinese traditions with colonial influences the bustling port city of Penang, then a key hub of trade ...
About the Artist
John Thomson · 1837–1921
John Thomson (1837–1921), a pioneering Scottish photographer, was born on 14 June 1837 in Edinburgh as the eighth of nine children to William Thomson, a tobacco spinner and trader, and Isabella Newlands.) After schooling in the early 1850s, he apprenticed with a local optical and scientific instrument manufacturer, where he mastered the principles of photography, completing his training around 185...