{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1096303"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1096303/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HV7833/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2015HV7833/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2015HV7833","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1096303/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1096303","accessionNumber":"136-1975","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Bastion of the 'Pehtang' Fort.  Surrendered 2nd Augt. 1860, Head Quarters English Army","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Having established his reputation as a professional photographer documenting military conflicts in the Crimea and India during the 1850s,  Italian-born Felice Beato arrived in China in March 1860 during the final months of the Second Opium War.  Accompanying the Anglo-French expeditionary force, which went on to seize Beijing and force the Chinese Empire to accede to sweeping political and economic demands, Beato’s views, combining topographical and military information, provided a visual record of the Imperial campaign.  They were often included in ‘progress’ reports sent from Hong Kong to the commanding officer of the British army.\r\n\r\nBeato also sold his images of China to British officers as unmounted prints with his stock number, title, and date written in pencil on the verso of each print.  By assembling a selection of images, the purchaser could construct a personal visual record.  Surviving albums such as this one have differing numbers of prints, and are a reflection of the owner's personal military career.  But even before the ‘narrative’ was constructed by the purchaser, Beato himself controlled the story, determining what was considered worthy of recording and eliminating any conflicting viewpoints. These views were absorbed by the public as part of a larger visual memory documenting England’s rise as an Imperial power.\r\n","physicalDescription":"A sepia-coloured photograph showing a fort with tents and a flag.  Men stand on the top.  In the foreground, artillery debris and men mounted into a bound album of 53 individual pages with dark green half-leather and green marble boards.  There is a gilt red leather label on cover reading VIEWS IN CHINA within a decorative frame.  There are marbled endpapers.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Beato, Felice","id":"A6896"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Albumen print from wet collodion on glass negative","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2015HV7833"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"X","shelf":"400","box":"A"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}],[{"text":"album","id":"AAT26690"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"China","id":"x29398"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2-12 August 1860","earliest":"0002-01-01","latest":"1860-08-12"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":"See Harris, Catalogue 8, p. 137."}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased from Mrs. Doris Hansford, 1975","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"16","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"album","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"18","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"album","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"1.25","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"album","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"24.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"29.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"image","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'No. 4'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Pencil, lower right mount, believed to be Beato's original stock number."}],"objectHistory":"This album of photographs was acquired in 1975 from Doris Hansford, the wife of Professor Professor S.(Sidney) Howard Hansford.   He was a student in China during the 1930s when he recorded some ‘home movies’ in Beijing.  He later became a Professor of Asian art at University of London.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Photograph by Felice Beato from the album <i>Views in China</i>, \"Bastion of the 'Pehtang' Fort.  Surrendered 2nd Augt. 1860, Head Quarters English Army\", albumen print, 1860","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Harris, David.  <i>Of Battle and Beauty:  Felice Beato's Photographs of China</i>. Santa Barbara, CA:  Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1999"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Crombie, Isobel.  \"China, 1860:  A Photograpic Album by Felice Beato.\"  <i>History of Photography</i> 11, no. 1 (1987):  25-37."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"China","id":"x29398"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[{"text":"Second China War","id":"V806"}],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"forts","id":"AAT6909"},{"text":"artillery","id":"AAT36931"},{"text":"flags","id":"AAT195678"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["136-1975"],"accessionNumberNum":"136","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1975,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-05","recordCreationDate":"2009-07-01","availableToBook":false}}