• Christies auction house James Christie logo

    Sale 6214

    Asian Export Art

    London

    |

    16 November 1999

    Browse Sale
Previous Lot
Search
Next Lot
    • SUNQUA (active 1830-1870)
    Lot 274

    SUNQUA (active 1830-1870)

    Price realised

    GBP 36,700

    Estimate

    GBP 15,000 - GBP 20,000

    Follow lot

    SUNQUA (active 1830-1870)
    The foreign Factories at Canton, circa 1830
    Oil on canvas
    23 x 17in. (60 x 45cm.)

    Provenance

    The Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, sold by order of the Trustees, Christie's Hong Kong, 9 October 1990, lot 1330.

    Contact us

    • Contact Client Service

      info@christies.com

      New York +1 212 636 2000

      London +44 (0)20 7839 9060

      infoasia@christies.com

      Asia +852 2760 1766

    Literature and exhibited

    Exhibited

    Vose Galleries, Boston


    Lot Essay

    This is a relatively early example of the finely detailed oil paintings on canvas which clearly fulfilled the role as mementoes of a businessman's trip to Asia, that the early photographs by such Asian pioneers as Felix Beato were to do three decades later. This particular view is interesting in showing the relatively unorganised foreground in front of the French, American, English and Dutch hongs in the mid-1830's; it is amusing to note that the English one is the only Factory to have a fully mature and high-fenced garden over which residents could gaze from their large and shady first-floor verandahs. After the great fire of 1840, the waterfront area became much more built-up, with a smaller Protestant church set at the centre of a large formal garden, partially concealing the lower storeys of the factories behind it; this was to last until the next great fire destroyed the hongs and the church in 1856.

    Other information

    Saleroom Notice

    This lot is signed 'SUNQUA' (lower right).


    Recommended features

      • Collecting Guide: Lalique
      • Collecting Guide: Lalique

        Specialist Joy McCall answers key questions for collectors of the glassmaker’s exquisite pieces. Illustrated with lots offered in the Lalique sale on 15 May

      • A leap into space: Malevich’s
      • A leap into space: Malevich’s Suprematist Composition

        Offered in May, a 1916 canvas that was included in every major survey of Malevich’s Suprematist works during his lifetime, and which revolutionised modern art

Share
Email
Copy link
Share
Email
Copy link