This photograph is from the trades (economic) part of Turkestan Album, a comprehensive visual survey of Central Asia undertaken after imperial Russia assumed control of the region in the 1860s. Commissioned by General Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufman (1818–82), the first governor-general of Russian Turkestan, the album is in four parts spanning six volumes: “Archaeological Part” (two volumes); “Ethnographic Part” (two volumes); “Trades Part” (one volume); and “Historical Part” (one volume). The principal compiler was Russian Orientalist Aleksandr L. Kun, who was assisted by Nikolai V. Bogaevskii. The album contains some 1,200 photographs, along with architectural plans, watercolor drawings, and maps. The “Trades Part” includes 212 mounted photographs and 1 mounted drawing on 44 plates. The crafts and occupations shown are textiles (plates 1-10); metalwork and mining (plates 11-19); timber and woodwork (plates 20-24); leatherwork (plates 25-30); agriculture, baking, and other products (plates 31-41); and pottery making and other small industries (plates 42-44).