17 - Album of Views of the Western Lake in Hangzhou, China, Ying-Hua Photo Studio, circa 1929

Album of Views of the Western Lake in Hangzhou, China, Ying-Hua Photo Studio, circa 1929 Photographic album containing 48 original black-and-white prints, each mounted on heavy paper and accompanied by a handwritten text in Chinese characters. The texts, arranged on the pages opposite the photographs, consist of detailed commentaries on the sites depicted and provide descriptive, historical, and geographical information. The views include various lake landscapes, pavilions and gardens, pagodas and monuments—notably the Leifeng Pagoda—as well as bamboo groves, lake vistas, and religious buildings. Green cloth binding with a leather spine, gilded title in Chinese characters 西湖全景 - Xihu quanjing - “panoramic views of West Lake” and English title in gilded letters The Landscape of Hsihu, Hangchow, with the notation “by Ying-Hua Photo-Studio, Hangchow.” Wooden storage box bearing the title 西湖风景 (a title slightly different from that on the album in terms of the third character) in engraved and green-painted characters, as well as a smaller Chinese inscription and a red seal. Album dimensions: 18 x 25.5 cm; print dimensions: 13.7 x 19.2 cm Signs of wear and rubbing on the binding and the box; a few stains and signs of use on the pages; photographs show traces of deterioration and superficial scratches in places.