What’s your typical Sunday routine? If your answer includes grabbing some noodles on the street, getting your earwax removed and mustache shaved, and maybe smoking some opium to take the edge off, congratulations, you might be living in 1923 Tonkin.
This collection of 10 colored sketches, whose author remains unknown, is titled “10 peintures annamites représentant les métiers au Tonkin, don 1923” (10 Annam paintings representing trades in Tonkin, donated in 1923). Digitized in 2019 by Gallica, the digital archive of the National Library of France, the illustrations depict a range of activities and careers of northern Vietnamese living in the early 20th century under French colonization.
From a jeweler, a barber to two female cobblers hard at work, it seems that grooming and fashion remain a timeless concern for Vietnamese in any century. Scenes of carpenters and farmers also showcase a number of traditional working methods that predate today’s mechanized work conditions — just people hard at work, not a smartphone in sight! Curiously, the author decided to include two opium smokers in languid poses as a demonstration of a “traditional trade.”
Have a closer look at the illustrations below:
Two jewelers hammering away.
Earwax removal was popular even 100 years ago.
Ploughing the field.
Irrigating the rice field.
A servant milling rice.
Cobblers making shoe soles.
Smoking opium.
Carpentry.
Tirailleurs (lính tập) having lunch. They are local militants organized by the colonial government.
Facial hair shaving.
