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This numbered set of photographs (1-39; 2 and 35 are missing) found in the LMS archives are said to have been taken by an anonymous Russian photographer. Many of the photograph mounts have Russian inscriptions on the reverse. Accompanying the photographs is a manuscript list, which follows the numbers and captions on the mounts with some variations in wording and detail, written in the same hand on a separate sheet of paper. Lockhart collected these photographs during his sojourn in Beijing from autumn 1861 until June 1864. The images can be dated to the early 1860s. They include a view of the graves of the five British prisoners who died in Beijing after their captured by the Chinese in September 1860. There is also a portrait of the Manchu noble and politician Su-Shun who was executed for treason on 8 November 1861.
The set includes a portrait captioned "Portrait of the Artist who took the photographs". Research suggests that the photographs may have been taken by Lev Stepanovich Igorev (1822-1893), a Russian portrait, icon and church painter and art master, who was selected to join the Russian Orthodox mission in Beijing. Igorev arrived in 1858 or 1859 and is listed as 'Artist' there in the 1863 China Directory. In a 1958 account written by A. I. Leonov, there is an indication that Igorev may have practised photography in China, taking pictures of Chinese notables. Igorev returned to Russia in 1864." (Source: Terry Bennett, '180 Years of Photography in China', exhibition catalogue published by Yinchuan Contemporary Art Museum, Aug 2019).
Groups include: Korean officers and servants; Korean merchants at the gateway of the Russian Legation; 2 noblewomen ("Russo Chinese" / Russian Chinese) with their servants; servants and boys of the Legation; chain 'coolies' [term from original source, indentured/contract labourers]; old man and women; cup mender and servants. People include: "the artist who took the set of views"; young Manchu girl in full dress; Chinese man in winter dress; Chinese officer and servant; Mongolian teacher; boy and messenger at the Legation; Chinese subordinate officer or messenger; Chinese and Mongol men; Buddhist and ?Taoist priests; teacher in mourning dress; teacher and bookseller; manure and water carriers; barber. Activities featured include: corn cutting. Other places featured include: the Russian cemetery (including inner and outer gateways); tower on North East Wall; observatory at Russian mission; kiosk and bell-tower at the Legation; outskirts of Peking; Russian mission gate. Also includes: graves of the English prisoners (Captain Brabazon, [Lieutenant] Anderson, [Thomas] Bowlby, De Norman, [John] Phipps); Peking and private cabs; contemporary list of prints; later note by [Irene] Fletcher [LMS Archivist].
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