PORTRAIT OF A HONG MERCHANT

This finely rendered portrayal with the full-length subject shown under red drapery and before a window is reminiscent of close followers of Spoilum, the famous China Trade portraitist. Compare with a Spoilum portrait of Captain Thomas Fry in a private collection, illustrated by P. Connor in The Enigma of Spoilum and the Origins of China Trade Portraiture, the magazine Antiques, March 1998.