Chinese river landscapes – a pair

A pupil of Jean-Antoine Gudin and a close friend of Honoré de Balzac, Borget undertook a journey around the world in 1836, travelling through South America before reaching the China coast in August 1838. He met and was sketched by Chinnery and went sketching with William Prinsep in Macao. Prinsep remarked that he found the Frenchman's portfolio 'rich with scenes from South America, Sandwich Islands and China, and he was a pleasant fellow into the bargain'. He returned to Paris in 1840 and his drawings illustrated his La Chine et les Chinois (Paris, 1842) and his now rare Fragments d'un voyage autour du monde (Paris, 1850). The three river landscapes in this and the following lot were given to Paul Vavin, a friend of Borget at Issoudun, whose father-in-law Paul-Émile Daurand-Forgues (1813-1883) edited a book illustrated by the artist, La Chine Ouverte: Aventures d'un Fan-Kouei dans le pays de Tsin, published in 1845.