Tea vendor at the Exposition Universelle, 1867

A carte-de-visite portrait of one of the Chinese women who ran the Chinese kiosk at the Exposition Universelle held in Paris in 1867. A printed caption in the lower margin identifies her as Leao-Ya-Tchoe from the province of Fo-Kien [an alternative form of Fu-jian, which is in south-eastern China].

On the day the exhibition opened to the public, The Times reported that ‘The mysteries of the Tea-trade are to be revealed by the exhibition of two Chinese damsels, both slaves, purchased at the rate of 6,000 f. apiece, and expected to charm the beholders with the fabulous smallness of their cramped feet’ (The Times, 1 April 1867).

Due to ongoing hostilities between France and China, the latter country did not officially take part in the exhibition. The Chinese presence at the fair was therefore supplied by the French organisers, reflecting their idea of China rather than anything that approached authenticity. The purpose of the Chinese pavilion — indeed of the whole ‘Avenue d’Orient’ — was to provide the primarily European visitors with an immersive experience and to entertain them with living ‘specimens’ representing various countries in North Africa, the Middle East and the Far East, including Siam (today Thailand), Japan and China.

Photographed by [Charles Albert] Bertall of Paris.

Although only two girls seem to have sat for Berthall, and an article in The Times mentioned only two, a wood engraving by Jules Gaildrau that appeared in an official exhibition catalogue shows three girls inside the Chinese pavilion, sitting on a raised platform — where they were to be seen painting fans, playing dominoes and performing other ‘traditional’ activities — while a Chinese man sporting a queue serves tea to a European family standing on the other side of a counter

For further details see Noelle Yongwie Barr’s ‘Marketing Chinoiserie at the 1867 Universal Exhibition in Paris,’ available online.