This carte de visite comes from a group of 44 images of Southeast Asia, thought to have been collected by a visitor to the region in the second half of the nineteenth century. The carte de visite format - a small photograph pasted onto a card backing - was popularised as a souvenir in the mid nineteenth century. This group of photographs is indicative of the type of imagery that was popularised through the circulation of cartes de visite. It shows both generic images of local “types,” as well as various posed images of local dignitaries (such as King Norodom of Cambodia). As such, the group offers an insight into the work of the commercial photo studio in Southeast Asia in the nineteenth century.
