This studio photograph shows a Chinese towkee dressed in robes of a Chinese official, accompanied by a boy holding a hat, and his servant holding a parasol. ‘Chinese Towkee 163’ is inscribed on the lower edge of the photograph. The photograph is stamped with the studio mark ‘GR Lambert & Co Singapore’.G.R. Lambert and Co was a leading and the most enduring of the European photography studios in Singapore. The studio was established in 1867 by Gustave Richard Lambert, who was originally from Dresden, Germany. Popular among the elites, the firm was often chosen as the official photographers for important state events in Singapore. In 1861 it was appointed as the official photographer of the King of Siam and the Sultan of Johore.
