This cabinet portrait of a European man was taken by George Michael at The Singapore Photographic Company at Armenian Street. The company had a separate studio for native ladies, which is advertised at the back of the photograph's card mount. Such studios were popular in the late 19th century. Well-to-do families and individuals, mostly wealthy businessmen or European traders and government officials, visited these studios to have their photographs taken. Such a trend could also be seen as a continuation of traditional portraiture as a privilege of the affluent. Photography was introduced in Singapore in the decades following the arrival of British colonialists, as well as European traders and photographers. Early photography in Singapore consisted primarily of images for documentation and mass dissemination. Advancements in technology such as the advent of albumen prints (production of a photographic image from a negative) in the mid 19th century made photography a commercially viable sector in the Singapore economy.
