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Chinese Apothecary, Chinatown, S. F. Cal.
San Francisco, [ca. 1882]. Albumen print, 9.5” 7.5”, mounted on cardstock. CONDITION: Near fine, rich tonality, verso of mount with some wear. One of only two known photographs of Quong Sang Tong’s apothecary shop at 900 Dupont Street, San Francisco, this one picturing the interior. This evocative photograph shows Tong and a young child (presumably Tong’s) standing before a doorway—flanked by two calligraphic scrolls—within his shop, an embroidered banner hanging overhead. Revealing just how sophisticated Chinatown apothecaries could be, the photograph reveals a display of Chinese ceramics lining the shelves, in addition to an elaborate carving over the doorway. The photograph also documents distinctive features of the store’s interior, such as a longcase clock, a gate-leg table, two mortars with pestles, and so on. The overall picture is one of a prospering business. The other known photograph of Tong’s establishment shows the sign that is covered by the banner here. It reads, “廣生堂,” which according to Douglas S. Chan transliterates to “Gwong Sang Tong” or “Guang Sang Tong.” The Horn & Horn business directory for 1892 indicates that the shop of one “Quong Sang Tong” was indeed at 900 Dupont Street. Contemporaneous newspapers suggest that Tong was in San Francisco as early as 1882, and that from 1886 was a partner in “Tong, Hop & Co.” at 900 Dupont, in a shop “decorated with flags and large Chinese lanterns” (“In the Chinese Quarters”). According to Chan, Tong’s apothecary is listed as a dispensary of “Opium (Importers and Dealers)” in Langley’s San Francisco Directory for the year 1895. Photographer Isaiah Taber was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1830. He sailed to California during the Gold Rush aboard the Friendship, then worked as a miner and rancher before taking up dentistry and photography. In the early 1860s he moved back east to Syracuse, N. Y. and set up a photo studio, then returned to San Francisco in about 1864, where he worked for other photographic firms before setting up his own studio in 1875. In 1881, Taber acquired the negatives of California photographer Carleton Watkins, who had gone bankrupt, thereby augmenting his stock of images—a boon to his business. Taber’s photographs of San Francisco’s Chinatown constitute some of the richest documentation of the district during the late nineteenth century. OCLC records no holdings; however, we locate one copy held by the Getty Museum and another in the Marilyn Blaisdell Collection at the Bancroft Library. An early photograph of a thriving traditional Chinese medicine shop, shown here prior to its transformation into one of the many opium establishments found on San Francisco’s Dupont Street. REFERENCES: “In the Chinese Quarters,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 06, 1886; Chan, Douglas S. “Taber’s Chinese Apothecary” at Streetscape & Memory: Chinese Urban Pioneer Images online.
Item #9297
Price: $1,250.00
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