Japanese hand-coloured photographs by Raimund von Stillfried – tea ceremony & river houses, c. 1880

Description

Lovely duo albumen prints from c. 1880 by Stillfried: hand-coloured tea ceremony portrait and quiet river view.

Origin & meaning: Two hand-coloured albumen prints by Baron Raimund von Stillfried (Meiji-Japan), typical of western tourist souvenirs. The first shows a serene tea ceremony with geisha in traditional attire, the second an idyllic water landscape with rice houses. Camera metrics, composition and hue are classic Stillfried-style.

Photo character: These images are typical souvenirs from the Meiji period, popular with Western visitors; highly iconic for Travel Photography of the time due to hand-colouring and composition. Raimund von Stillfried was among the elite of 19th-century Japan photographers, along with Felice Beato.

Product photographs show the object on offer exactly as photographed. Any interior images are AI-generated impressions, included solely to illustrate scale and presentation.