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Lot Essay
C. Crossman, The China Trade, p. 418 illustrates another rare view of this 19th century treaty port, a gouache attributed to Tingqua and now in the collection of Mystic Seaport, and cites an oil of the same subject from the collection of Massachusetts China trader David Cushman.
Amoy was actually one of the first China trade ports along the South China Coast, used by Europeans as early as 1541. Its location just north of Canton, at the mouth of the Nine Dragon River, led some three hundred years later to its prominence as a center of the tea trade. Because of the interaction between Westerners and Chinese over this 19th century trade such words as 'tea', 'Pekoe', 'ketchup' and 'kowtow' made their way from the Amoy dialect into the English language.
Amoy was actually one of the first China trade ports along the South China Coast, used by Europeans as early as 1541. Its location just north of Canton, at the mouth of the Nine Dragon River, led some three hundred years later to its prominence as a center of the tea trade. Because of the interaction between Westerners and Chinese over this 19th century trade such words as 'tea', 'Pekoe', 'ketchup' and 'kowtow' made their way from the Amoy dialect into the English language.