Name Hui Kung Temple, Canton
Felice Beato
Italian, 1825–1903
April 1, 1860
A mid-19th-century albumen silver print by Felice Beato that documents the courtyard and carved roofs of Hui Kung Temple in Canton, produced to record Chinese architecture and everyday life for Western viewers.
The eye is caught by the sweeping, upturned tile roofs and a shadowed wooden gateway, with weathered stone balustrades and small, indistinct figures providing a quiet, human scale amid dappled light.
Made during Beato’s pioneering travels in Asia, this image helped establish photography as a means of documentary travel and visual anthropology, shaping Western views of China and the possibilities of photographic reportage.
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
9 5/8 × 11 3/8" (24.4 × 29.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Jon Hendricks
Accession
38.1986
Palette
Exhibitions
