Album of Late Qing Women’s Hairstyles
By Zhou Peichun
Late Qing dynasty, circa 1890s
Fifteen album leaves, ink and color on paper

The present album, consisting of fifteen leaves, was painted by Zhou Peichun, a late Qing Beijing folk and export painter known for his depictions of popular customs, urban life, and social types. Each leaf illustrates a different female hairstyle and costume type, identified by inscriptions such as “Banner Woman Double-wing Hairstyle,” “Woman with Yuanbao Hairstyle,” “Wuqing County Hairstyle,” and “Elderly Woman Hair Knot.” The figures are shown individually, either seated or standing, against sparse interiors furnished only with small tables, mirrors, flower vases, wash basins, or opium implements, allowing the viewer to focus primarily on the coiffures themselves. Executed with fine linear brushwork and delicate coloration, the album combines the documentary character of Beijing folk painting with the decorative sensibility of late Qing export art.

Much like ethnographic photography, the album serves as a visual record of women’s fashion and social identity in the Beijing-Tianjin region during the late nineteenth century. Hairstyles such as liangbatou (“double-wing coiffure”), gaobatou (“high banner hairstyle”), zhuaji (“grasped bun”), and yuanbaotou (“sycee-shaped hairstyle”) were associated particularly with Manchu and banner women, while styles such as “Suzhou hairstyle,” “Wuqing County hairstyle,” and “Rural High Crown hairstyle” reflect regional variations and localized customs. Particularly in the leaves titled “Yuan Hairstyle” and “Flat Triple-layer Hairstyle,” the women are depicted with extremely small feet and narrow shoes, clearly reflecting the late Qing Han Chinese practice of footbinding. In contrast, banner women wear elevated platform shoes and did not bind their feet, highlighting broader distinctions between Manchu and Han bodily customs and ideals of feminine beauty during the Qing dynasty.

Across the fifteen leaves, the album presents a wide variety of hairstyles and social types. The first leaf depicts a banner woman wearing the iconic liangbatou coiffure extending horizontally from the head. The second portrays a young unmarried girl with double grasped buns. The third, titled “Magpie-tail Hairstyle,” features long trailing hair cascading down the back. The fourth, “Yuan Hairstyle,” depicts a seated woman with visibly bound feet. The fifth and sixth leaves illustrate youthful coiffures associated with unmarried girls. The seventh uniquely presents the double-wing hairstyle from the rear, offering valuable documentary detail. The eighth leaf, “Tianjin Fan-shaped Hairstyle,” displays a broad fan-like coiffure associated with Tianjin women, while the ninth presents a woman wearing a high coiffure shaped like a sycee ingot. The tenth illustrates a rural high-crowned hairstyle, more rustic in character, while the eleventh, “Suzhou Hairstyle,” presents a graceful southern-style coiffure. The twelfth leaf directly references a local regional hairstyle from Wuqing County. The thirteenth leaf, “Flat Triple-layer Hairstyle,” depicts a woman washing her hands beside a basin and towel, her tiny bound feet again carefully rendered by the artist. The fourteenth portrays an elderly woman accompanied by a child, evoking family and generational continuity. The final leaf, “Banner Woman High Hairstyle,” depicts a seated banner woman beside an opium lamp, tray, and smoking implements, indicating that she is smoking opium. These details transform the album from a simple hairstyle manual into an important visual document of late Qing women’s daily life and social customs.

Zhou Peichun was an important late Qing folk painter active in Beijing. In addition to the present album, known surviving series by the artist include Eighteen Paintings of Beijing Shop Banners, Seventeen Paintings of Qing Civil and Military Official Ranks, Fifty Paintings of Popular Deities, Twenty Paintings of Ancient Beauties, and Twenty Paintings of Urban Figures. His works combine documentary observation with commercial export aesthetics and were closely tied to the late nineteenth-century export painting market. Zhou reportedly lived in Guangzhou for a period and assisted foreign oil painters in the sale of paintings. However, little scholarly attention was paid to him until the 1990s, when the American scholar Carl L. Crossman discussed him in The Decorative Arts of the China Trade (Suffolk: Antique Collectors Club, 1997), identifying him as a Beijing export painter active during the 1890s.

The present album and Lot 4108 both descend through the McKee family of California, whose history is closely associated with the Haggin Museum in Stockton. During the California Gold Rush era, the Haggin and McKee families migrated westward and eventually became linked through marriage and inheritance. James Ben Ali Haggin, originally a lawyer from Kentucky, arrived in California in 1850 and became one of the major industrial and financial figures of the American West. The McKee family later became part of this broader Haggin-McKee legacy. Preserved within the family for generations, these albums reflect not only the movement of wealth and culture from the American East Coast to California, but also the transmission of late Qing Chinese export art into prominent West Coast collections.

Related works by Zhou Peichun are preserved in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, including an example acquired in 1910 (Accession no. E.3301-1910), whose format and composition closely resemble the present album and demonstrate the early international appreciation of such ethnographic paintings.

{Each: H 10 x W 7 inches (27 x 18.5 cm)}. Fifteen leaves.

《清末妇女发式图册》
周培春绘
清末，约1890年代
册页十五开，设色纸本

本册为清末北京民俗画家兼外销画家周培春所绘《妇女发式图》册，共十五开，每开描绘一种不同女性发式、身份与生活情景，并于画面右侧题写名称，如“在旗两把头”、“妇人元宝头”、“武清县头”、“老人头发纂”等。画中人物或坐或立，背景极简，多仅以桌案、花瓶、镜台、水盆、烟具等器物点景，使观者将注意力集中于人物服饰、发式与姿态本身。画法工整细腻，设色清雅明丽，兼具北京民俗画的纪录性与晚清外销画的装饰趣味。

此类作品与今日民族志摄影相近，不仅是晚清京津地区女性时尚与审美的视觉记录，同时也反映出旗人、汉人、乡间妇女、老年妇女等不同社会群体之间的文化差异。画中所见“两把头”、“高把头”、“抓髻”、“元宝头”等，多与清代旗人妇女传统妆束有关，而“苏州头”、“武清县头”、“乡间高冠头”等则带有浓厚地域性，显示晚清中国女性发式文化的多样性。尤其《元头》与《平三套头之图》两页中，人物足部极小，鞋履纤窄，下身比例亦较短小，明显与晚清汉人妇女缠足习俗相关。与之形成对比者，数位旗人妇女则着平底旗鞋，不缠足，反映清代满汉女性身体文化与审美观念之差异。

全册十五开依次描绘不同发式与人物形象：第一开〈在旗两把头之图〉描绘典型旗人妇女两把头；第二开〈在旗姑娘头双抓髻〉为未婚少女双抓髻样式；第三开〈鹊雀尾头之图〉以长垂发尾如雀尾得名；第四开〈名曰元头〉中妇人端坐室内，足履纤小，带有明显缠足特征；第五开〈姑娘搭拉苏〉描绘少女垂发装饰；第六开〈姑娘头正抓髻〉为较正式之抓髻样式；第七开〈在旗两把头后面〉则自背面描绘旗人两把头结构；第八开〈天津扇面头〉中发髻横展如扇；第九开〈妇人元宝头〉以元宝形高髻命名；第十开〈乡间高冠头〉呈现乡村妇女高耸冠式发型；第十一开〈名曰苏州头〉则带有江南女性柔婉气息；第十二开〈武清县头〉直接以地方名称命名发式；第十三开〈平三套头之图〉中妇女俯身洗手，旁置水盆与巾帕，其小足与纤窄鞋履亦显示缠足习俗；第十四开〈老人头发纂〉描绘老妇携幼童而立，呈现家庭与世代意象；第十五开〈在旗高把头〉则以高耸旗头作结，女子坐于炕沿，身旁置有烟灯、烟盘与烟具，显示其正在吸食鸦片。这些细节使本册不仅为发式图录，更成为观察清末妇女日常生活与社会风俗的重要图像资料。

周培春为清末北京重要民俗画家，以描绘社会风俗、市井人物与民间图像见长。除本套发式图外，目前所知尚有《京城店铺幌子图》十八幅、《清代文武官员品级图》十七幅、《民间神像图》五十幅、《古代美人图》二十幅、《市井人物图》二十幅等系列作品。其作品兼具纪录性与观赏性，明显与十九世纪末北京外销绘画市场相关。周氏曾居广州，并替外国油画家经营油画销售，但其人其作长期鲜为学界所知，直到1990年代，美国学者卡尔・克罗斯曼（Carl L. Crossman）于《The Decorative Arts of the China Trade》（Suffolk: Antique Collectors Club, 1997）中始予以注意，并指出其为活跃于1890年代的北京外销画家。

本册与4108号拍品同样出自美国加州 McKee 家族收藏。McKee 家族与加州 Stockton 的 Haggin Museum 关系密切。十九世纪加州淘金热期间，Haggin 与 McKee 两大家族先后西迁，最终因家族联姻与财富继承而形成密切联系。James Ben Ali Haggin 原为肯塔基律师，1850年抵达加州后成为美国西部重要实业家，涉足矿业、土地、金融与马匹育种等领域。McKee 家族则自纽约迁至加州，并逐渐融入 Haggin-McKee 家族体系之中。此两册作品长期保存于 McKee 家族内部，不仅反映十九至二十世纪之交美国东西岸财富与文化流动，同时也见证晚清中国民俗图像如何作为外销艺术，被带入美国西岸收藏世界之中。

目前已知相近作品藏于英国 Victoria and Albert Museum ，馆藏作品于1910年入藏，馆藏号 E.3301-1910，其构图方式与本册极为接近，均以单一女性形象配合题识，作为晚清中国女性发式与服饰的重要视觉档案。

{每开：高 10 英寸，宽 7 英寸（27 × 18.5 厘米）}。共十五开。