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Lot Essay
An important early group of photographs of Hong Kong which pre-date the establishment of most of the recorded photographers' studios in the colony. Although photographers were recorded in Hong Kong from the 1840s 'almost no photographs are known to have survived from the first two decades of photography in Hong Kong' (Picturing Hong Kong: Photography 1855-1910, [Asia Society Galleries exhibition catalogue], New York, 1997, p.28). The first significant photographer to visit the colony was Felice Beato (c.1830-c.1904) who arrived as photographer with the Anglo-French North China Expeditionary Force. His photographs of China were sold in Hong Kong and back in London (advertised in the Photographic News of 1861) and his visit coincides with that of the purchaser of the present photographs, Gother Mann. Mann was an army officer stationed in Hong Kong c. 1859-61 at the time of the second Opium War (1858-60).
The British victory led to the 1860 Convention of Peking which saw the Chinese cede the Kowloon Peninsula to Britain. A 99-year lease on the 'New Territories' beyond Kowloon followed in 1898. This culminated in the Joint Declaration between Britain and China in 1984 which agreed to the expiration of the lease on the entire colony at midnight on 30 June 1997.
Mann's photographs are a rare survival, unlike their subjects, the long lost streets and architecture of the colony in its early years. The views include 'Head Quarter House', built 1843-44 as the residence of the Commander of British Forces, and used as such until 1978. It was renamed Flagstaff House in 1932 and remains the oldest surviving western building in Hong Kong. The building was taken over by the Urban Council in 1981 and converted into the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, in what is now Hong Kong Park. Murray Barracks (the Officers Mess and barracks) was built in 1843-46. It was dismantled and re-erected in 1998 as Murray House, a tourist facility in Ma-Hing, the fishing village of Stanley. St John's Cathedral was opened in March 1849, and, with Flagstaff House, is the only remaining surviving structure in Hong Kong from the 1840s. Government House, situated on Upper Albert Road, begun in 1851 and completed in 1854, was the home of 28 British Governors (and two Japanese lieutenant-generals) from 1855 until 1997. It survives today as an official guest house and listed monument. The view of Victoria Peak appears to show it prior to the erection of the signal station in 1861.
The view of Murray Barrack from Head Quarter Hill shows the hulk Princess Charlotte on the extreme right, the RN Receiving ship at Hong Kong 1857-75.
The British victory led to the 1860 Convention of Peking which saw the Chinese cede the Kowloon Peninsula to Britain. A 99-year lease on the 'New Territories' beyond Kowloon followed in 1898. This culminated in the Joint Declaration between Britain and China in 1984 which agreed to the expiration of the lease on the entire colony at midnight on 30 June 1997.
Mann's photographs are a rare survival, unlike their subjects, the long lost streets and architecture of the colony in its early years. The views include 'Head Quarter House', built 1843-44 as the residence of the Commander of British Forces, and used as such until 1978. It was renamed Flagstaff House in 1932 and remains the oldest surviving western building in Hong Kong. The building was taken over by the Urban Council in 1981 and converted into the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, in what is now Hong Kong Park. Murray Barracks (the Officers Mess and barracks) was built in 1843-46. It was dismantled and re-erected in 1998 as Murray House, a tourist facility in Ma-Hing, the fishing village of Stanley. St John's Cathedral was opened in March 1849, and, with Flagstaff House, is the only remaining surviving structure in Hong Kong from the 1840s. Government House, situated on Upper Albert Road, begun in 1851 and completed in 1854, was the home of 28 British Governors (and two Japanese lieutenant-generals) from 1855 until 1997. It survives today as an official guest house and listed monument. The view of Victoria Peak appears to show it prior to the erection of the signal station in 1861.
The view of Murray Barrack from Head Quarter Hill shows the hulk Princess Charlotte on the extreme right, the RN Receiving ship at Hong Kong 1857-75.