Featured Dating old Chinese American photo in case

Hi:

I found this photo among other old family photos. I am a student of Chinese American history but I have never seen another photo like this of a Chinese American subject, so I imagine it is unusual.

I am hoping that someone can help me to date the photo by identifying the type of photograph and/or the objects in the photo, especially the lamp on the table. The photo does not seem to have a reflective quality and it does not hold a magnet. It was certainly taken somewhere in California.

If I can get an idea of when the photo was taken, I can then get a better idea of the subject of the photo.

Many thanks for any assistance.

Greg

 

Greg, how do you know it was taken in California? And would/could you post a photograph of the case's back?

Debora

 

The case and the photograph don't appear to be of the same era. Did you notice she has bobbed hair, tweezed and pencilled eye brows and is holding a 20th century polka dot scarf? I would think 1930s. As you suspect her to be the second Mrs. Choo Ly, you must have made assumptions about the photograph's age. What do you think?

Debora

 

This looks identical to your case.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264259444219

Debora

 

Is she a tintype, or a photo on paper?

 

Must be on metal if it doesn't hold a magnet. That does lead one to believe older rather than newer.

Debora

 

Same do. Same earrings.

https://www.posterazzi.com/china-mo...int-by-granger-collection-item-vargrc0065293/

Debora

 

If the image does not have a mirror-like surface, it would not be a daguerreotype. And if it does not attract a magnet, it would not be a tintype, which were made on a lacquered iron plate. That leaves the possibility of an ambrotype, which is a collodion image on glass. Ambrotypes were popular from 1855 to about 1865.

This article provides a good description of the characteristics of an ambrotype, as well as a guide to dating the cases in which they were typically mounted -
http://www.phototree.com/id_amb.htm

Based on the elaborate framing elements on your image, (the mat and preserver), the case dates from the 1860s.

To confirm whether the photograph is an ambrotype on glass, or some other type of image, you might remove it from the case so that you can examine the back. If you have a very thin tool or spatula, you should be able to insert it between the outer case and the edge of the first metal frame - the "preserver" - and pop the whole sandwich out of the case. Here is a diagram of the structure of early cased photos - daguerreotypes and ambrotypes:


https://www.nedcc.org/about/nedcc-stories/dolley-madison-daguerreotype

 

Appears to be a studio portrait. If so, then the items with the sitter are props. Dating them may not date the pic.

@Figtree3

 

Thank you so much for your replies. Unfortunately, the actual photo and case are at my family home and I do not have access to them at this time. But it is of the black thermoplastic variety that I have seen with daguerreotypes, etc.

I know the photograph was taken in CA because it was among other family photos and my family did not live outside of CA after coming to the U.S. The clothing is consistent with the style worn by Chinese women in the 1860s-70s.

My suspicion is that the photo is of my great-grandfather's second wife, to whom he was married from 1866, if not earlier, to the time of her death in 1893. If I am correct, the photo may have been taken around the time of their marriage. To me it looks as though the photograph was relatively expensive to have done. This great-grandfather was a wealthy man, unlike most of my other ancestors, and he would have had the resources to buy a photo of this kind.

I would welcome and be grateful for any other thoughts.

Greg

 

The sitter in the photograph that @Debora posted looks very similar to your subject, as she noted. That photograph is dated 1861-1864. As the style of the case of yours falls in the same time range, it seems to be a good bet that the photograph itself dates to the first half of the 1860s.

 

Tweezed and painted (not pencilled) eyebrows have been typical of the make up of Chinese women of means for centuries.
As you've already seen, the hairstyle is a Chinese hairstyle, not a Western bob cut. The hair above the face is tweezed, to create a more oval face with a high forehead.

I agree.
To confirm the time frame: Below is a photo from the book "History of Photography in China: Western Photographers 1861–1879", published by Bernard Quaritch in 2010. I don't own the book, but found the photo on a pinterest page.
Her hair is a bit more full than on your photo, but it is essentially the same hairstyle.



The hair of the girl below is more like "your" girl:



I'm with @Bronwen that these were all studio photographs.
These two were taken in China, not California. I wonder if they were photos of prospective brides, to be sent to the families of prospective grooms.

 

I assume you have no other photos of the second wife to compare to. Did they have any children that you can compare features.

 

welcome gckimm!

 

Thanks for tagging me, Bronwen. I think others have narrowed things down pretty well. I do have a book that is a deep study of cases, mats, and preservers. I will try to look at it soon.

@gckimm , do you have a photo of the back of the case? The cover, I mean? Also, it looks like there is gold trim painted on the case, which leads me to think it is not a thermoplastic case, but instead might have a wood frame covered with leather or a thick paper (not sure of the name of the paper). Those were frequently used.

If you don't have a photo of the outside of the case, the other features of the framing should still give ideas.

 

Thanks for all the helpful information. I will be able to photograph the case within the next week and post the photo, so please check back.

 

I'm using the book Fixed in Time by Sean Nolan (3rd edition, 2017). The mat (the flowery decorative part) is listed as manufactured by Dean & Emerson between 1863-1866. Nolan divides mats by the size of the image. The most common sizes were sixth plate and ninth plate. I won't go into the explanation of size differences here. But this mat is pictured on pg. 75 of the book, in the section on oval sixth plate mats. There could have also been a ninth plate version but I don't see it in that section.

I don't find that exact preserver style in the book, but there are a couple of very similar ones from the same period in the 1860s.

Okay! Also, I may have been incorrect about thermoplastic cases not having gold trim. Will check into that.

The word for the pressed paper coverings that I was looking for was papier-mâché --

Need to leave home soon, so will hope to see the case at a future date!

 

Thank you for bringing your expertise & reference library in aid of the cause.

 

That polka dot scarf is really throwing me off. As @Debora mentioned, it looks 20th century... and mass-produced. Quick googling doesn't show anything similar from the 19th century...?
EDIT: I've seen dots incorporated in other designs of that time as accents but not a true polka dot pattern like that.

 

Hi:

I found this reference at https://suzyquilts.com/history-of-polka-dots/

"Godey’s Lady’s Book, which was apparently the awkward name of a really great women’s magazine, featured a polka-dotted scarf in 1857."

There is no photo, however. It would be interesting to see what that 1857 scarf looked like.

Greg