Swann's February 26 auction of Fine Photographs prominently featured property from the estate of Fong Chow, whose collection included several early albums and groups of photographs taken in China, Japan, Korea, India, the Middle East and other locations. Among these, a mini-collection of 78 cartes-de-visite portraits, many with hand-coloring, brought $60,000. The photographs, dating from the 1860s-70s, feature Chinese tradesmen, religious figures, women and officials.
Another group of prints by Thomas Child and Felice Beato from mid-1870s China sold for $28,800, while an album of 38 photographs depicting Korea at the turn of the 19th century brought $20,400.
The cover lot from the sale, André Kertész's Distortion #128, a silver print circa 1931-33, realized $60,000, and the top lot of the day was Portfolio #1 from Edward S. Curtis's epic The North American Indian. The portfolio, containing 39 photogravures, sold for $78,000.
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| Three of the 78 cartes-de-visite portraits featuring Chinese life in the 1860s-70s. |
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| André Kertész, Distortion #128, silver print, 1931-33. |
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| One of the 39 photogravures from Curtis's The North American Indian, portfolio #1, 1907. |