What a Beauty From 1875

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Mestizo de Sangley

With a face that tells a thousand tales, this unknown beautiful young woman was photographed in the Philippines by Dutch photographer Francisco Van Camp in 1875. The photograph’s inscription describes her as Mestiza Sangley-Filipina, a term widely used in the 16th to 19th-century Spanish Philippines to differentiate ethnic Chinese from other types of island mestizos (such as those of mixed Indio and Spanish ancestry, who were much fewer in number.) The Chinese mestizos were granted the legal status of colonial subjects of Spain, with certain rights and privileges denied the pure-blooded Chinese immigrants (sangleys). Fresh-faced and all-natural with her hair flowing wildly, this black and white portrait is worlds away from the Victorian photography we normally see. What a beauty.

With a face that tells a thousand tales, this unknown beautiful young woman was photographed in the Philippines by Dutch photographer Francisco Van Camp in 1875. The photograph’s inscription describes her as Mestiza Sangley-Filipina, a term widely used in the 16th to 19th-century Spanish Philippines to differentiate ethnic Chinese from other types of island mestizos (such as those of mixed Indio and Spanish ancestry, who were much fewer in number.) The Chinese mestizos were granted the legal status of colonial subjects of Spain, with certain rights and privileges denied the pure-blooded Chinese immigrants (sangleys). Fresh-faced and all-natural with her hair flowing wildly, this black and white portrait is worlds away from the Victorian photography we normally see. What a beauty.

What a Beauty From 1875

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