Sale 2489 - Artists & Amateurs: Photographs & Photobooks, October 18, 2018

368 c   (CHINA—CHEONG CHI PIO & HIS “VERDANT VILLA”) Presentation album entitled Photographs of Cheong Chi, Pio Members of Family, Residence and Country House. With 61 rich and remarkably detailed photographs by a commercial photographer documenting the prominent merchant and charitable figure, including images of Cheong Chi Pio’s home life, family members, and residence (known as the “Verdant Villa”). Including photographs of the elegant mansion on Haining Road, north of Shanghai, with views of the luxurious interiors featuring many family photographs displayed on the shelves and walls (a number of which are also present in the album), and beautifully decorated bedrooms with four-poster beds; as well as numerous images of Cheong Chi Pio and his family (of 9 sons and 6 daughters), staff of the villa, and a cabinet card C. L. Chow (his father), signed and inscribed to Mr. and Mrs. Sutterle. Printing- out paper prints, the images measuring 5 1 / 2 x4 to 8 1 / 2 x11 inches (14x10.2 to 21.6x27.9 cm.), mounted recto/verso. Oblong 4to, gilt-lettered leatherette, front cover and hinges reinforced with tape, backstrip perished; with a handwritten inscription on the flyleaf, “18 Nov. 1901, To Mr. and Mrs Sutterle, With compliments of Cheong Chi Pio, Shanghai.” 1901 [4,000/6,000] Cheong Chi Pio was a successful businessman and prominent member of the Shanghai community. The accomplished photographs chronicle a devoted family man who merged Chinese values with western influences. The residence has a distinctive style, in which numerous photographs of family members are carefully placed alongside examples of fine and decorative art.