Untitled (General view of Hong Kong from the Scandal Point looking west) (1866–73): Art, History and Details

Untitled (General view of Hong Kong from the Scandal Point looking west) (1866–73) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is William Pryor Floyd (British, 1834–c. 1900).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Hong Kong’s growth, coupled with the heavy traffic of visitors brought by maritime commerce, attracted numerous foreign and Chinese photographers who documented the city’s dramatic and rapid urbanization. The main customers for such views were Westerners—colonists, sailors, merchants, and visitors—rather than Chinese. In this view, the City Hall and St. John’s Cathedral tower over the harbor full of ships in the background.

Object facts

• Title: Untitled (General view of Hong Kong from the Scandal Point looking west)
• Date: 1866–73
• Creator attribution: William Pryor Floyd (British, 1834–c. 1900)
• Culture: England, 19th century
• Type: Photograph
• Technique: albumen print
• Dimensions: Image: 21.7 x 29 cm (8 9/16 x 11 7/16 in.); Paper: 21.7 x 29 cm (8 9/16 x 11 7/16 in.); Mounted: 27.5 x 35.2 cm (10 13/16 x 13 7/8 in.)
• Collection: PH - British 19th Century
• Department: Photography
• Accession number: 2020.231

A detail from the museum

Hong Kong, a relatively barren island when ceded to the British in 1842, rapidly evolved from a free port to a British crown colony and mercantile center.

Collection credit

Sundry Art - Photography Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.