This glass plate negative shows a portrait of Mrs Lee Choon Guan, née Tan Teck Neo (1877-1978). Mrs Lee was a founding member of the Chinese Women’s Association and served as its first President. In 1918, she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), the first Chinese woman to receive the honour. Glass plates are first coated with a photosensitive collodion or gelatin layer before being exposed using a camera. The resultant negative image can be used to make any number of positive prints. First opened in 1867 in High Street by the Dresden native Gustave Richard Lambert, G.R. Lambert and Co. was a photography studio who produced numerous photographs of Singapore and its elite.
