Louisa Katherine Stewart (née Smyly); Mrs Ahok; Robert Warren Stewart
1 portrait of Mrs Ahok
Louisa Katherine Stewart (née Smyly); Mrs Ahok; Robert Warren Stewart
by Unknown photographer
albumen print, 1895 or before
8 in. x 5 7/8 in. (204 mm x 149 mm) image size
Given by Martin Plaut, 2012
Primary Collection
NPG P1700(18a)
Sittersback to top
- Mrs Ahok (born 1850), Preacher. Sitter in 1 portrait. Identify
- Louisa Katherine Stewart (née Smyly) (died 1895), Wife of Robert Warren Stewart. Sitter in 1 portrait. Identify
- Robert Warren Stewart (1850-1895), Missionary. Sitter in 1 portrait. Identify
Artistback to top
- Unknown photographer, Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 6582 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Mrs Ahok is shown in traditional Chinese dress. She was often seated because she had very tiny feet due to footbinding as a child. The practice of footbinding involved bending the toes backwards so that they reached the arch of the underside of the foot. The feet were bound up tightly which restricted growth and caused the bones to deform into a 'lotus' shape which was considered to be beautiful and a sign of a noblewoman. Women, such as Mrs Ahok, who were subjected to this process would have endured pain in their feet and found it incredibly difficult to walk, being able to take only tiny steps at a slow pace which was considered a desirable trait of a good Chinese woman.
Portrait setback to top
Events of 1895back to top
Current affairs
Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest is first performed, the same year that he is imprisoned for homosexual offences following accusations made against him by the eighth Marquess of Queensbury. Whilst in prison, Wilde wrote De Profundis, a letter addressed to his former lover, Queensbury's son Lord Alfred Douglas, attacking him for his role in Wilde's imprisonment.Prime Minister Lord Rosebery resigns and is succeeded by Salisbury.
Art and science
The Lumiere brothers hold the first public screening of movies at Paris's Salon Indien du Grand Café, featuring ten short films recorded with Leon Bouly's cinematographe device, recognised as the birth of cinema as a commercial medium.Henry Irving, the celebrated actor and theatre manager, becomes the first actor to receive a knighthood.
International
In South Africa, prompted by the growing unrest of unfranchised British immigrants (Uitlanders) drawn to the Transvaal by the discovery of gold, Rhodes and other members of the South African mining community begin to plot the republic's overthrow. As a result, the disastrous Jameson Raid takes place, carried out on Paul Kruger's Transvaal Republic by Leander Starr Jameson and his Rhodesian and Bechuanaland policemen: it fails to bring about an Uitlander uprising.Comments back to top
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