Selected views of Nuremberg. 1869. 8 albumen prints, mounted in pairs to 4 ink-ruled boards. Each ca. 23,5 x 19 cm or larger. Boards annotated in ink and/or pencil below the images, including “Nürnberg Juli 1869,” and bearing collection stamps.
The group surveys Nuremberg’s Gothic civic and ecclesiastical monuments, including the Sacrament House in St Lorenz, the Schöner Brunnen before the Frauenkirche, an ornate projecting oriel and fountain views. Balancing major landmarks with architectural detail, the photographs convey the medieval character that made Nuremberg a favored subject of nineteenth-century travel photography.
Provenienz: Simon Moritz von Bethmann (1811-1877), Ludwig Simon Moritz von Bethmann (1844-1902) Collection
Papua New Guinea
Images of indigenous people and landscapes of Papua New Guinea
Los 4077
Schätzung
1.500€ (US$ 1,724)
Photographer: John William Lindt (1845-1926). Images of indigenous people and landscapes of Papua New Guinea. 1885. 12 albumen prints, mounted to gilt-edged black boards. Each circa 15 x 20,5 cm (mounts 17,5 x 27 cm) and reverse.
In 1885, photographer John William Lindt accompanied Sir Peter Scratchley's expedition to the newly proclaimed Protectorate of British New Guinea. In 1887 he published fifty photographs from the expedition in his book Picturesque New Guinea. The expedition, led by Scratchley, set out one year after Britain annexed the territory. Lindt had wanted to visit the island of New Guinea since first sighting it on the horizon during a visit to the Torres Strait in 1868. On arrival, Lindt immediately sought opportunities to take photographs. His photographic work was facilitated by the Commissioner and the resident missionaries. William George Lawes (1839-1907) had established the London Missionary Society in New Guinea in 1874. An inland excursion was undertaken, guided by a government officer, and one of the locations visited was the village of Kalo.
For other photographs by J.W. Lindt see lots 4007-4010.
Provenienz: By descent to the current owner.
Peru
Lima: Puente de Piedra and general view from Cerro San Cristóbal
Los 4078
Schätzung
1.800€ (US$ 2,069)
Photographers: Sociedad Fotográfica Lima (Eugène Maunoury & Cía.). Lima: Puente de Piedra and general view from Cerro San Cristóbal. 1862-1863. 2 albumen prints, mounted to card. Ca. 12 x 16,8 cm (mounts 17 x 24 cm). Each with embossed "SOCIEDAD FOTOGRÁFICA / LIMA" stamp; inscribed in ink "Lima. El Puente. 1862." and "Vista general de Lima, tomada del Cerro San Cristóbal."; one numbered "No. 17".
Issued by Sociedad Fotográfica Lima, these early albumen views belong to one of the first sustained photographic campaigns devoted to the Peruvian capital. The studio was founded by the French photographer Eugène Maunoury at 71 Calle del Palacio in 1862, at a formative moment in the development of commercial photography in Lima. Its workshop employed Eugène Courret shortly before he established Fotografía Central, the firm that would become a major force in Peruvian photography later in the century. Retaining their original manuscript titles and studio blindstamps, these rare prints record the emergence of Lima’s urban identity as a subject for photographic circulation.
Photographer: Rafael Castillo Gómez (1844-1887). Peruvian Funerary and Archaeological Objects. 1880s. Albumen print. 21,7 x 16,5 cm. Annotated in pencil on verso: “4.”
Castillo’s carefully staged survey assembles a mummified body and three mummified heads with ceramics, figurines, textiles and cordage, documenting the late nineteenth-century collection and display of Peruvian funerary material. Such images made excavated objects and human remains portable for scholarly, museum and private collections, while detaching them from their burial contexts. The group may relate to the collection of William T. Smithies, whose Peruvian holdings included funerary skulls, false heads and textiles from the Rímac Valley.
Photographic company: Photochrom Zürich (active 1888-1895). Views of Cairo and Egypt. 1890s. 8 photochrome prints. Each ca. 20 x 26,5 cm. Each gilt-lettered in the image with a French title, inventory number and "P.Z." logo at lower edge.
A varied commercial group combining views of Cairo with portraits and genre scenes of Egyptian inhabitants; one print depicts Port Said by moonlight.
Prussian and French Rulers, Nobility and Military Portraits
Portraits of Prussian and French royalty, military and political figures
Los 4081
Schätzung
600€ (US$ 690)
Photographers: F. Brandt, André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri (1819-1889), Heinrich Graf (1835-1906), Carl Günther (active 1865-1884), L. Haase & Co. (active 1856-1890s), F. Jamrath & Sohn (active from 1858), J. C. Welten, Photographische Gesellschaft Berlin (active 1862-1927), and others. Portraits of Prussian and French rulers, military and political figures. 1860s-1870s. 35 cartes-de-visite albumen prints. Most with studio imprints on the recto or verso of mount; several annotated in ink or pencil on the verso. Inserted into gilt-edged window album leaves, each inscribed in German in ink and pencil. Bound in a contemporary full-leather album with an ornamental brass clasp.
Compiled around the Franco-Prussian War, the album brings together members of the Prussian court and military command with leading figures of the Second Empire and early Third Republic. Sitters include Wilhelm I, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince Friedrich Karl, Bismarck, Moltke, Roon, Steinmetz and Manteuffel, as well as Napoléon III, Mac-Mahon, Bazaine, Leboeuf, Trochu, Gambetta, Thiers and Jules Favre; Garibaldi is also represented. The manuscript captions preserve a contemporary German collector’s political and military portrait gallery. A few cartes reproduce lithographic portraits.
Ste Sophie (Ox Carts in front of Hagia Sofia, Constantinople). 1853. Albumenized salted paper print. 23,7 x 28 cm. Signed, titled and "No. 57" in the negative in lower corners, mounted to cream card.
Robertson, an engraver at the Imperial Ottoman Mint, established a photographic studio in Pera in 1853. His early views of Constantinople - issued as individual prints and in albums - were among the first sustained photographic surveys of the Ottoman capital and circulated widely in Europe. Here, Hagia Sophia’s monumental architecture is set against the everyday cart traffic of the surrounding street, uniting landmark and urban life in a characteristic view of the city.
Constantinople. Ca. 1853-57. 4 salted paper prints, mounted to card. Each ca. 24,5 x 28,5 cm or reverse (mounts 54,3 x 37,8 cm or vice versa). Each signed "Robertson" in the negative at lower right.
The group comprises views of the south portal of the Süleymaniye complex; the Nusretiye Mosque and Tophane; mosques and imperial architecture in Constantinople; and Ottoman fountains, including the pavilion at the Sweet Waters of Asia.
Tombeau du Sultan Suleiman, Constantinople. 1854. Albumenized salted paper print. 29,5 x 25 cm. Mounted along edges to cream card (43,5 x 56 cm), annotated in pencil below image on mount.
Literatur: Sylvie Aubenas and Jacques Lacarrière. Voyage en Orient. Paris: Éditions Hazan, 2001, ill. p. 183.
Robertson, James & Felice Beato
Funerary Khanqah of Sultan Barsbay
Los 4085
Schätzung
600€ (US$ 690)
Funerary Khanqah of Sultan Barsbay ("Mosquée d’Ayet Bey"), Cairo. 1858. Salted paper print. 25,2 x 19,8 cm. Signed "Robertson & Beato" in ink lower left; verso annotated "Mosquée du Ayet Bey", "23" and "EGYPTE".
This view belongs to the Robertson & Beato's Egyptian campaign of 1857-58, a foundational body of travel photography devoted to Cairo’s medieval Islamic monuments. Issued as individual views and in albums, such photographs brought the architectural complexity of the Mamluk funerary complexes to a European audience and established Robertson & Beato among the leading early photographers of the eastern Mediterranean.
Photographers: B. Avanzo (active 1870s-1880s) and others. Selected views of the Russian Empire. 1880s-1890s. 32 albumen prints and 4 photochrome prints, some mounted to board. Various image sizes, from 12 x 17,5 cm to 21,5 x 27,5 cm. Several titled and numbered in the negative at lower edge; some mounts with Russian titles stamped below the image; a few with photographers’ stamps on the verso.
An extensive group spanning the Russian Empire from Moscow and Kyiv to the Caucasus and Central Asia. It includes views of Moscow (8), Tiflis (8), the Baku oilfields (2), Kyiv (4), Georgian inhabitants and landscapes (6), and monuments in Bukhara and Samarkand (9). Together, the photographs juxtapose major urban centers, regional architecture, industrial development and landscapes at the empire’s southern and eastern reaches.
Photographers: Gregor Baldi (1814-1878) and Karl Friedrich Würthle (1820-1902). Views of Salzburg. Ca. 1865-1870. 4 albumen prints, each mounted to card. Each with printed German title and photographers’ credit below the image on the mount, 3 also numbered.
Gregor Baldi and Karl Friedrich Würthle were pioneers of Salzburg photography, producing detailed architectural and landscape views alongside studio portraits. The group comprises two views from the Mönchsberg, a view from the Kapuzinergarten and the Hôtel de l’Europe, opened in 1865, documenting the historic city and its emerging tourist infrastructure.
Der Henkersteg zu Nürnberg. Circa 1855. Lightly albumenized salted paper print, mounted to board and mounted to ink ruled brown card. 26,8 x 26,3 cm. Annotated in pencil and with collection stamp below the image on the mount.
Trained as a painter in Nuremberg and Munich, Georg Schmidt opened a photographic studio in Nuremberg in 1846 and identified himself solely as a photographer from 1852. His atmospheric city views, including this image and the following lot, rank among the earliest photographic records of Nuremberg. They combine close attention to the city’s historic fabric with the pictorial sensibility of a trained artist.
Provenienz: Simon Moritz von Bethmann (1811-1877), Ludwig Simon Moritz von Bethmann (1844-1902) Collection
Schmidt, Georg
Burg von Nürnberg; Sebalder Pfarrhof mit Chörlein, Nürnberg
Los 4089
Schätzung
800€ (US$ 920)
Burg von Nürnberg; Sebalder Pfarrhof mit Chörlein, Nürnberg. Circa 1855. 2 lightly albumenized salted paper prints, each mounted to board and mounted to ink ruled brown card. 25,7 x 20 cm and 26,7 x 23,8. Each annotated in pencil and with collection stamp below the image on the mount.
Provenienz: Simon Moritz von Bethmann (1811-1877), Ludwig Simon Moritz von Bethmann (1844-1902) Collection
Schwartz, F. Albert
Landscape views, Havel area of Berlin
Los 4090
Schätzung
500€ (US$ 575)
Landscapes and picturesque views around Berlin. 1884. 4 albumen prints. Each ca. 17,7 x 11,7 cm or vice versa. Three with the photographer’s blindstamp and year at lower left or right; two numbered in the negative at lower left or right; each annotated in pencil on the verso.
The group records rural and semi-rural scenes on Berlin’s outskirts, including the Schulzenamt of a small village near the city.
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Galerie Bassenge
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© 2026 Galerie Gerda Bassenge
Galerie Bassenge
Erdener Str. 5A
14193 Berlin
Öffnungszeiten:
Montag bis Donnerstag, 10–18 Uhr,
Freitag, 10–16 Uhr
Telefon: +49 30 8938029-0
Fax: +49 30 8918025
E-Mail: info (at) bassenge.com
Impressum
Datenschutzerklärung
© 2026 Galerie Gerda Bassenge