FIRST PICTURE OF CHINESE EMPRESS, Empress Dowager Cixi, 25 June 1904

In 1904, katharine carl's portrait of ci xi (here misidentified as tsi an) was on display at the louisiana purchase exposition. Journalist j. V. Rancke claimed that the chinese government refused to allow either photographs or drawings to be made of the portrait, and that he was thus forced to sketch it in secret while pretending to write about it. Date: 25 June 1904.