1870 Portrait of a Chinese American Woman

[CDV Portrait of a Chinese Woman]

Reed, John Q.

Notes: A studio carte-de-visite portrait of a seated Chinese woman holding a fan in one hand and a small, hard-to-make-out object in the other. She is wearing embroidered silk robes, large earrings, and typical Chinese thick-soled shoes.

According to Palmquist and Kailbourn's Pioneer Photographers of the Far West, John Q. Reed operated out of the Odd Fellows' Lodge (the imprint on the verso of this CDV) in 1870 and 1871, enabling this image to be dated with some accuracy. According to the 1870 census, there were just 40 Chinese immigrant women living in Stockton, all working as prostitutes or in houses of prostitution. The woman in this picture is young and seems dressed in expensive clothes, suggesting that she was perhaps a successful owner of a house of prostitution or that she was part of a wealthy Chinese merchant family from outside the city.

In any case, images of Chinese American women from this time period are very scarce.

Albumen silver print; 2-1/4 by 3-7/16 on a thin card mount with a ruled border. The photographer's imprint is on the back, giving his location as "Entrance Odd Fellows' Hall."

Edition + Condition: The print is somewhat faded and the mount and print are cracked; upper right corner chipped.

Publication: Stockton, CA: Reed's Photographic Rooms, (ca. 1870).

Item No: #307727

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