Ruins of the Porcelain Tower, Nanking

What it is

This is a photograph by John Thomson, dated to before 1898, catalogued under the title Ruins of the Porcelain Tower, Nanking. The Commons file description, however, describes a large, tilted bronze bowl with raised decorative panels and Chinese characters on its side, resting on broken rubble. A robed man in a dark cap stands at its left, and the number 23 appears in the lower left corner. Teachers should confirm the subject before using it with students.

Why it matters

The tower was built in the reign of the Yongle Emperor, who ruled from 1402 to 1424. Photographs of the ruins taken before 1898 record how the site had declined by that time. The photographer, John Thomson, made the image, and the robed man in the picture gives a sense of scale. The mismatch between the title and the description is itself a lesson in how archives label images.

Look closer

• What does the title promise, and what does the picture actually show?
• Why might a photographer choose to record ruins rather than a complete building?
• What does the man standing beside the object suggest about its size?