Lot Essay
William Alexander was appointed the official draftsman to the first British Embassy to China in 1792 led by Lord Macartney. The purpose of the embassy was to persuade the Chinese to lift trade restrictions, to impress the Emperor with the quality of British goods and to establish a permanent British Embassy in Peking. A team of experts including botanists, engineers, scientists and medics, whose function was to gather information about China, accompanied the expedition. Alexander's impressions were recorded in numerous sketches which he was able to use to good advantage on his return to England, illustrating Sir George Staunton's Account of the Embassy, 1797, and Sir J. Barrow's Travels in China, 1804, and again in the latter's Voyage to Cochin China. He also published his own books including Costumes of China, 1805. Alexander's drawings provide a unique Western pictorial record of China in the late 18th century. It was not until 1825 when George Chinnery went to Macao that a British artist had quite the same opportunity to depict the oriental way of life
As in many of his river views the artist has included a portrait of himself sketching from the nearest barge. The subject may be identified from a similar but smaller study in the India Office Library which is inscribed by the artist 'Entrance of the Whang-Ho or Yellow River, 1793.' The yellow river was about three miles wide at this point and muddy with strong currents. Before guiding the vessels into this treacherous river each junk's crew performed a number of rituals including slaughtering a cockerel and setting off firecrackers. In 1802 Alexander was appointed Professor of Drawing at the Military College of Great Marlow. Later in 1808 he became keeper of prints and drawings at the British Museum, a position he kept until his death eight years later. His works can be found in most major collections, the largest being in Maidstone Museum, the town of his birth
There are versions of this watercolour in the collection of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery and a third version is recorded as having been in the Chater Collection
As in many of his river views the artist has included a portrait of himself sketching from the nearest barge. The subject may be identified from a similar but smaller study in the India Office Library which is inscribed by the artist 'Entrance of the Whang-Ho or Yellow River, 1793.' The yellow river was about three miles wide at this point and muddy with strong currents. Before guiding the vessels into this treacherous river each junk's crew performed a number of rituals including slaughtering a cockerel and setting off firecrackers. In 1802 Alexander was appointed Professor of Drawing at the Military College of Great Marlow. Later in 1808 he became keeper of prints and drawings at the British Museum, a position he kept until his death eight years later. His works can be found in most major collections, the largest being in Maidstone Museum, the town of his birth
There are versions of this watercolour in the collection of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery and a third version is recorded as having been in the Chater Collection