NIEMANN, J. B.

£1,000 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Early engraved panorama of the Bund, Shanghai. A view of colonial Shanghai a couple of decades after the port was opened to foreign trade, showing the first maritime customs house in the centre-left and the Westernized buildings of the major merchant houses.The panorama extends as far as Wills' Bridge (opened in 1856), the first foreign-built bridge over Suzhou Creek. On the river are all manner of vessels, from three-mast clippers and paddle steamers to local craft.The imprint attributes publication to the enigmatic J. B. Niemann (d. 1861), who is listed as a photographer. At the time of his death in Shanghai, he was working at the hospital's apothecary. The lithography was handled by Carl Blunck, based in Kiel, Holstein, who was active in the 1850s and 1860s.

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