Lot Essay
Chinnery marked each individual sketch on a sheet such as this one with his distinctive shorthand, using a cross (+) to mark those works he liked and wished to use again, and an 'X' to identify those in which he was less pleased. He adhered to the common 18th-century system of shorthand devised by Thomas Gurney (1705-1770). The costume here suggests that the figures are Chinese - Chinnery was based in Macau from 1825 until his death in 1852.