Chinese paintings from the 1850s. There was also Italian Felice Beato, who came to China in the 1850s to document Anglo-French exploits in the Second Opium War, and Scottish photographer John Thompson, whose journey up the Min River gave people in the West a rare glimpse into the country’s world.

These are just some of the figures whose work is included in a collection of 15,000 photographs assembled by New York antique dealer and collector Stephan Loewentheil. His 19th-century images cover street scenes, tradesmen, rural life and architecture, showing everything from blind beggars to camel caravans on the Silk Road in unprecedented detail.