* China. An album of 18 landscape photographs of Jiangxi province by Sing Kwa, c. 1870, albumen prints, depicting views in Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces, (southwest of Shanghai), featuring tombs, temples, towers, and other architectural and natural features, the majority with a Chinese male figure in the view, 210 x 265 mm and similar, pasted to album leaf rectos with ink captions in Chinese script on mounts beneath, together with a further 8 contemporary albumen print photographs on rectos of following leaves at rear, including a brick and stone 3-arch river bridge with Chinese dwellings and water vessels, two of colonial buildings and one of a hall interior, plus a Western woman (oval vignette), two large group portraits of Western colonials in outdoor settings (one loose) and an unidentified Western cemetery, printed photographer label to front pastedown, ‘Sing Kwa, Photographer and Portrait Painter, Paintings on Ivory. Shanghai’, contemporary black half morocco over cloth, soiled and worn, backstrip deficient, oblong folio (315 x 380 mm)QTY: (1)NOTE:A most unusual collection of photographs by a Chinese photographer about whom almost nothing is known. Sing Kwa, (even allowing for possible variant spellings), is not listed in any of the usual Chinese photography reference books, including those by Terry Bennett. The only reliable mention is to another similar photograph album with a Sing Kwa label held at The Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley (see Online Archive of California). The Chinese captions are a further unusual feature. The composition and subjects of the photographs do not appear to be based on other Chinese or Western photographers’ work of the period and they were possibly not taken with a commercial Western market in mind. Besides the Sing Kwa label and the 18 Chinese captions there are no other captions or markings to help identify previous owners or explain why the album was put together. English translations of the 18 captioned Sing Kwa photographs:Jiujiang Riverside Tower, [Guangdong province], 210 x 262 mm; Jiujiang City Tower, [Guangdong province], 267 x 207 mm; Tomb of Master Zhou, [Jiangsu province], 265 x 210 mm; Gantry, 214 x 267 mm; Yunyang Cave, 209 x 262 mm; Taiping Palace, [Jiangxi province], 210 x 264 mm; Tower outside Taiping Palace Gate, [Jiangxi province], 210 x 265 mm; Feng Street opposite Taiping Palace, [Jiangxi province], 213 x 265 mm; Donglin Bridge, [Jiangxi province], 210 x 265 mm; Si Lin Pagoda, [Jiangxi province], 257 x 211 mm; Guizong Temple, [Jiangxi province], 210 x 265 mm; Yulianquan [or Yuyaquan], [Jiangxi province], 215 x 263 mm; Waterfall in Xiufeng Temple, [Jiangxi province?], 210 x 267 mm; Waterfall in Xiufeng Temple, [Jiangxi province?], 197 x 255 mm; Waterfall in Xiufeng Temple, [Jiangxi province?], 211 x 268 mm; Waterfall in Xiufeng Temple, [Jiangxi province?], 210 x 267 mm; Guanyin Bridge, [Jiangxi province], 212 x 265 mm; Yuyuan Spring outside Qixian Temple, [Jiangxi province], 202 x 267 mm The other 8 uncaptioned photographs:Colonial building [Shanghai?], 209 x 260 mm; Colonial building [Shanghai?], oval vignette, 152 x 245 mm; Hall interior, 228 x 279 mm; Chinese river bridge [by Sing Kwa?], 202 x 289 mm; Group portrait of 38 Western people in an outdoor clearing, 215 x 279 mm; Group portrait of a party of 43 Western people in theatrical costumes, (loose, corner creasing), 205 x 286 mm; Western woman, oval vignette, 190 x 153 mm; Western cemetery, 187 x 259 mm.
