The Hongs at Canton after the Great Fire of 1822, with the ruined British factory

細節

Chinese School, 1822
The Hongs at Canton after the Great Fire of 1822, with the ruined British factory
with inscription 'Canton after the Fire' (in the lower margin)
bodycolour on paper
unframed
18½ x 23in. (46.9 x 58.4cm.)

來源

John Reeves (1774-1856), East India Company Inspector of Tea at Canton 1812-1831 (for whom see the note to the previous lot), and thence by descent to the present owner.

注意事項

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

拍品專文

A fire broke out in a bakery in Canton on 2 November, resulting in the destruction of thousands of buildings, including the western factories and the warehouses of the Hong merchants Howqua II and Mowqua II.

For a variant of the present view, see the slightly larger bodycolour, probably by the same Chinese hand, in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts (gift of Mr Lewis Lapham E79,459.5), illustrated in the exhibition catalogue Views of the Pearl River Delta, Macau, Canton and Hong Kong, Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Peabody Essex Museum, 1997 [Hong Kong, 2002], pp.178-179, no. 58 (one of a series of five paintings depicting the Hongs before, during, and after the fire). The western factories were rebuilt in 1824.