Tingqua (Guan Lianchang) was the younger brother of Lamqua. He was the best known watercolourist working in Canton during the mid 19th Century. The view of his own studio is an invaluable document in the study of Chinese painters working for the western market. The studio was situated at 16 New China Street, Canton. Along the walls are rows of studio productions including examples of the artist's western style portraiture

For other versions of this picture, see Carl L. Crossman, The China Trade, 1972, p.106, ill. 89 and Patrick Conner,The China Trade 1600-1860, 1986, no.87. Another version of the picture is being sold in the next lot