Shop Signs of Peking

Original seventeen page, 10x13 inch, softbound booklet of shop signs once found along the streets of Peking. Painted in

watercolor on laid paper.

by
Zhou Peichun
(active 1880-1910)
Copyright © 2009 by Vincent L. Morgan - granger.nh.ultranet@rcn.com
 i
"Zhou Peichun [was] the owner of a workshop located near the Dazhi Bridge outside the
Shunzhi gate (also known as Xuanwu gate) in Beijing. His dates of activity can be estimated
as between 1880 and 1910, both by dated works and visual references in the pictures
themselves. By that time many Westerners visiting China were equipped with cameras.
Demand for export paintings as souvenir items would theoretically have diminished, yet Zhou
was prolific, which means his works had something to offer that photographs lacked.” (Ming
Wilson, curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum, in "As True as Photographs: Chinese Paintings for the Western Market," Orientations,
November 2000, p. 90.)

The following booklet was acquired

in Peking by American
paleontologist Walter Granger and
his wife Anna, apparently in
association with a lecture on ‘Street
Calls of Peking’ given at the Peking
Art Institute on May 15, 1930. It has
remained in family hands ever since.
Interestingly, in 1931, one hundred
copies of a picture book entitled
“The Shop Signs of Peking” were
printed in Peking (Beijing). Prefaced
by H. K. Fung, Ph.D. and containing
only occasional slight organizational
and artistic differences, that book
essentially replicates this original set
of Zhou Peichun watercolors.

Image subdued.
 ii

The cover and each page of this booklet is stamped with Zhou Peichun's
personal red seal attesting authenticity. Portrayed are the colorful pre-Mao
China’s shop signs, or street calls, of old Peking such as pawn shop, lamp store,
tea house, hat shop, saddle store, bakery, bath house, military sabre shop,
tobacco store. Each is done in lively colors with great delicacy suggesting that
quite an artistic splendor beckoned shoppers to what lay inside various shops.
This heralding through art must have created quite a visual splendor that
vitalized the strolling and shopping experience.
 1

[This and all remaining images are to be replaced with high quality scans as time permits.]

Zhou Peichun placed his stamp on the cover and at the lower left corner of each page,
except .ppt page 16.
 2

(l.-r.) - pawn shop; apothecary (liquor for medical use); bath house; drum shop; mats store;
jewelry store (gold only); funeral garments store.
 3

(l.-r. top) - jewelry store (custom design); drug store (creams); liquor store (warm liquors);
ginger store; military/official carriage shop; leather whips shop; (bottom) saddle store.
 4

(l.-r. top) - second hand clothes shop; tailor shop; pastry shop; military sabre shop; cow’s horn
shop; lamp store; (bottom) wicker store.
 5

(l.-r.) - currency exchange shop; pawn shop; smoke house; lamp oil shop; liquor store; silver
plate shop.
 6

(l.-r.) - noodle shop; rice shop; rice shop; bakery store.

 7

(l.-r.) - tea house; mirror shop; ?gift shop; delivery nurse house; paper lamp store;
grocery store.
 8

(l.-r.) - men’s hair stylist; sewing shop; (?); hair dresser; drug store (general medicine); rice
and vinegar store.
 9

(l.-r.) - music stores; beauty shop; ?leather goods store; drug store (eye medicines).
 10

(l.-r.) - restaurants; fast food places.

 11

(l.-r top) - ?glass toys shop; ?cooking steamers shop; bellows shop; fake jewelry store;
(bottom) bakery shop.
 12

(l.-r.) - (?); music stores; oil shop; art supply stores.

 13

(l.-r.) - soap shop; cigarette store; hat shop; cutlery shop; funeral cloth shop.
 14

(l.-r.) - shoe shop; sock shop; pipe shop; pipe stem shop; fur hats shop.
 15

(l.-r.) - tobacconist; ?Bezel nut shop; steamer shop; noodle (vermicelli freshly made and cut);
art supply shop.
 16

(l.-r. top) - cross bow shops; horsetail hair shop; peacock feathers for indicating official rank; (bottom) hair dresser.
(Note absence of Zhou Peichun stamp on this page. However, this page also differs organizationally and artistically
from H. K. Fung.)
 17

(l.-r.) - picture frame shop; photography shop; oven shop; (?); florist shop; (?).
 18

(l.-r.) - sewing shop; cotton shop; woolen yarn shop; shoe store; handkerchief shop.
 19

(l.-r.) - blanket shop; comforter shop; hardware store; ?soap shop; bamboo shop; paint store.
 The End

Ka Bo Tsang of the ROM is thanked for her excellent assistance with understanding this item.