Image size: 17.8 x 24.8 cm
From the 1890s Chinese and Peranakan run studios appear in ever expanding numbers. Photo companies were making studio processing easier and cheaper but these local studios were perhaps also more welcoming of passing trade from all classes. A family portrait was within the reach of a larger pool of customers and yet still had the prestige of something previously restricted to an elite. A noticeable change in studio names from the 1890s is the number of Chinese-run portrait studios that developed rapidly as processing and supplies became easier with support from international photo companies. These catered to all comers but were not excluded from high-class customers. One of the first was Tan Tjie Lan (est 1895[-] 1935) in Jakarta who provided society portraits, and won medals that he, like the European studios immediately splashed on his cards. Lan did quite a lot of government work.
