In 1904, the Lumiere brothers invented a form of color images called autochrome:

The process used a screen of tiny potato starch grains dyed orange-red, green and violet. Dusted onto a glass plate, the dyed grains were covered with a layer of sensitive panchromatic silver bromide emulsion. As light entered the camera, it was filtered by the dyed grains before it reached the emulsion. […] The result was a unique, realistic, positive color image on glass that required no further printing.

Between 1909 and 1931, a wealthy French businessman named Albert Kahn sent 13 photographers and filmmakers around the world for a project he called The Archives of the Planet, to take images of cultures under threat of change of disappearance. The images that they took are available for online viewing here.

This particular autochrome was taken by Roger Dumas [1891-1972] during his 1926-27 trip to Japan. While there, he also took pictures of the funeral of Emperor Yoshihito, before eventually travelling on to India for the golden jubilee of Jagatjit Singh.

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