PORTRAITS OF FOREIGNERS, A PAIR

These iconic are familiar from the Mottahedeh Album of Foreigners and Minority Peoples of China, sold Sotheby's New York, 7-8 April 1988, lot 67, and partially published by Howard & Ayers (op. cit.). But the inspiration of that album was actually a set of four handscrolls commissioned by the emperor Qianlong. Titled Illustrated Tributaries of the Qing Empire, the scrolls depict various peoples of the world, including from the "western ocean" (hsi-yang) countries. Reflecting the imperial view of China as at the center of all nations, the scrolls also reveal a certain curiosity about those outside the Middle Kingdom. Above each figure, in Manchu and Han Chinese, is text; reading for this British man: The nation is wealthy. Men are commonly dressed in woollen flannel and like drinking alcohol.

One handscroll from the Ding Guanpeng set, now in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, is partially illustrated by A. Jackson and A. Jaffer (ed.) in Encounters; The Meeting of Asia and Europe, 1500-1800, p. 211, including the five depictions shown here.