Peking opera costumes

Click any image to enlarge

These images are from a late 19th Century album, One hundred portraits of Peking opera characters, showing the costumes and characters from Peking operas. The collection is housed in the MET. The operas feature mythological, historical and social themes and have elaborate costumes, masks, singing, dancing, acrobatics, and stylized martial arts. To western ears the music is jangling, and the high-pitched timbre of the singing can be off-putting. 

There are more images after the jump, and the full album can be viewed at the above link.