Portrait photo of Mandarins - Public domain portrait print

Photograph shows a Chinese mandarin (government official), full-length portrait, standing, facing left.
Title from front of item.
Caption from back of item: Civil officer. foreigners have been in the habit of calling all Officers either Civil or Military in China "Mandarins", whereas the Chinese themselves never use such a term, and only those who are thrown in constant contact with Foreigners have any idea of the meaning of the word. The origin of this nisnomer [i.e., misnomer] is said to be derived from the Portuguese word "Man dar" to command, and this is probably the correct explanation of the derivation of the name.
Photograph taken by John Thomson in Shanghai, 1870-72. (Source: Regine Thiriez, 2009)
In album: Japanese and Chinese portraits, [p. 40, lower right].