The French, American and British factories at Canton

For a closely similar view of the western factories at Canton by Lamqua, with its companion taken from the British factory, both c.1835, see C.L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, Woodbridge, 1991, p.102 ('Lam Qua at his very best when working in the English style of Chinnery and with a bolder palette than his earlier paintings'). The view derives from Chinnery, for which see the watercolour in a private collection illustrated in P. Conner, George Chinnery, 1774-1852, Artist of India and the China Coast, Woodbridge, 1993, p.164. Chinnery's views in Canton date to the late summer and autumn months of 1826-9 and 1832. 'Although Chinnery was the only western artist in the small western community on the China coast, he faced competition of a kind which he had not encountered in India. This came from a flourishing school of Cantonese artists who worked 'in the western manner' - generally involving a combination of Chinese and European traditions - for the western market. ... The best known of the Cantonese 'export artists' contemporary with Chinnery was Guan Qiaochang, known to westerners as Lamqua. Many visitors went to his studio in China Street, Canton, in which he worked with a large number of assistants, following Chinnery's style closely and undercutting Chinnery's prices. ... Lamqua subsequently gained a reputation as a copier of Chinnery's original work. ...Nevertheless, Lamqua could do more than 'copy after a fashion'. He and other export artists of Canton - their pictures are usually unsigned, and not easily distinguishable - were skilful practitioners, whose painting was not always markedly inferior to Chinnery's.' (P. Conner, op.cit., pp.169-70)

Thomas Mackean was a senior partner in the tea and silk trading company, Turner & Co. in Hong Kong in the mid 19th century. He was recorded in Hong Kong as early as 1843 when sworn in as one of the first 44 Justices of the Peace by the first Colonial Governor, Henry Pottinger. There is a portrait by Lamqua of Mackean's daughter with her amah recorded; this and the present picture would have been commissioned by Mackean on his regular visits to Canton.