Page 15 - Swann Galleries - Fine Photographs - Sale 2304 - February 26, 2013

5 ● (ASIA AND EGYPT) FELICE BEATO, ET ALIA
Important travel album formerly belonging to WilliamWilliams with a total of 85 photographs of
Japan, China, India, and Egypt. Includes 31 compelling portraits and picturesque views of Japan by
FELICE BEATO, including the famous self-portrait on the steps of the colossal bronze Buddha of
Kamakura and the gruesome execution scene, as well as the tattooed men, studio portraits of geishas,
a range of remarkable occupational studies, a total of 18 of which are beautifully hand-colored.Also
features 6 unattributed views of China, with houses of worship (pagodas) and The Great Wall; 32
views of India, including picturesque views of Delhi, the Pearl Mosque, Agra, and the Taj Mahal,
Benares, and Lucknow, approximately 20 of which are by Samuel Bourne; and 16 lively small-format
Egyptian views of Pt. Said and the Suez Canal by the British photographer Chappuis. Albumen
prints, 91/4 x111/2 inches (23.5x29.2 cm.), and the reverse, and smaller, mounted recto only, many
with a trimmed caption affixed to mount recto; Bourne’s prints with his signature in the plate and
Chappuis’ with his hand stamp on verso. Oblong folio, 1/2 green morocco with gilt-lettered label
affixed to front cover, edgewear; brass clasp; all edges gilt. 1870s [10,000/15,000]
From the Estate of Fong Chow.
After receiving his Master’s Degree in Ceramics from Alfred University, Fong Chow (1923-2012) was
named Chief Designer for Glidden Pottery, the American equivalent of stoneware associated with the
Chinese Song Dynasty (960-1279), and which was known as “Cizhou ware.” Soon after, he was
hired as a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he worked for twenty-five years.
During his tenure, Chow was responsible for the installation of Chinese ceramics in the Benjamin
Altman and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. wings and two Chinese Buddhist sculpture galleries. He acquired
for the museum important Chinese and Japanese paintings, Korean ceramics, and Indian sculptures.
Chow was a lifelong collector of photographs.
Fong Chow was very proud to be the first grandson of Sir Shouson Chow. He married Maud Chaolin
Tsien in 1960, who was the youngest daughter of Tsien Tai, the Chinese Ambassador to France.
[SEE IMAGES OVERLEAF]