British Colonial Ceylon, Nagoya Festivals, and Colombo Seri Lanka Street Life, circa 1890 to 1910

British Colonial Ceylon Meiji Era

Photograph

British Ceylon and Japan photo archive, circa 1890 to 1910, documenting public ceremony, craft production, daily life during the expansion of imperial travel in Asia. The Japanese images record religious processions, rickshaw travel, workshops, and leisure scenes associated with the late Meiji period, while the Ceylon photographs depict Colombo streets, architecture, ceremonial dress, and colonial urban space. Verso inscriptions identify Nagoya and Colombo without establishing a single photographer or original sequence.

Photo archive of 24 photographs, comprising eight hand colored photographs mounted to cardstock, approximately 5 x 3½ inches, and sixteen glossy and matte silver gelatin prints ranging from approximately 2½ x 2½ to 3 x 4½ inches, Japan and British Ceylon, circa 1890 to 1910. The hand colored Japanese views show women in rickshaws beneath flowering trees, artisans making paper umbrellas, workers shaping timber, a cooper surrounded by tubs and hoops, and a lantern shop filled with suspended paper lanterns. Other photographs depict monks, attendants, musicians, and costumed participants moving through public squares with parasols, banners, and ceremonial objects. The Ceylon views include a Colombo street leading toward a clock tower, palm lined compounds, civic and religious buildings, harbor craft, and men in formal ceremonial dress. Inscriptions include “Nagoya,” “Colombo,” and “Vue de Colombo.”

The Japanese photographs belong to the commercial visual culture of the Meiji era, when photographers produced hand colored views of occupations, transport, festivals, costume, and craft work for foreign travelers. These images often arranged workers and tools for clarity, while the smaller prints record crowds, streets, and religious movement with less formal staging. The Colombo photographs reflect the parallel growth of photography under British colonial rule in Ceylon, where ports, municipal buildings, and ethnographic subjects circulated through travel albums and commercial view markets. Light to moderate surface wear, fading, abrasions, edge wear, and occasional creasing; several mounts show staining or loss. Overall good condition. A compact visual record of Asian urban life, religious practice, artisanal labor, and colonial travel at the turn of the twentieth century.

Item #23687

Price: $550.00