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The Thomas Jefferson portrait is based on an engraving of 1807 by The artist Spoilum (possibly Guan Zuolin) (iv) in whose style the
Robert Field after the well-known oil painting, ‘Portrait of Thomas portrait is painted, was a Chinese artist believed to have been active
Jefferson’ of 1805-1807, by the celebrated portraitist Gilbert Stuart between 1785-1810 and may have been the first Chinese artist to
and commissioned by James Bowdoin III, and now located in the paint in oils in Guangzhou (Canton). Beside painting local Chinese
Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick, Maine. dignitary’s including Hong merchants, he depicted sea captains,
supercargos (the Company’s negotiating officers), and western
Our oil portrait is the only image of Jefferson painted by a Chinese merchants.
artist in the early China trade period known to date.
Spoilum painted many of his oils on canvas from life with a sitter
The companion portrait of an unknown gentleman, clearly a pair before him. He also copied other paintings and engravings and
to the Jefferson portrait as evidenced by the identical ‘faux ovals’ is known to have painted reverse glass mirrors in an English
and the identical giltwood frames, has been identified by various style. His works on canvas seems to have an affinity to American
scholars as possibly a likeness of George Washington, based on contemporaries working in the early 1800’s, like John Brewster and
profile portraits done in a variety of media ranging from paintings William Jennys, though there is no evidence that these painters
and prints to coinage and medals. The comparison that presents influenced him.
itself most readily, is the likeness of George Washington painted
by James Sharples, circa 1796, presently at the National Portrait According to Carl Crossman, op. cit, p. 164-165, “this, and the
Gallery, Washington, D.C. Sharples an English painter/pastelist is Jefferson painting are similar to a number of portraits of American
known to have produced three portraits from life in 1796, including merchants and traders which can be grouped together as being by
a left profile, a right profile, and a three-quarter view. He was the last one painter.”
artist Washington is known to have sat for in his lifetime. However,
numerous other images of Washington exist, and some bear a Certain techniques in media and style present in the Jefferson portrait
resemblance to our painting. We can draw attention to a mezzotint of are characteristic of Spoilum’s works. These include, silhouetting and
General Washington, the late president published by John Fairburn the blue-gray highlighting of the background surface just behind the
in London in 1801 (i); the frontispiece to John Corry’s, The Life of subject’s right shoulder; thinning of the paint to areas of the face,
George Washington, late President and Commander-in-chief of revealing the lighter ground below; the large facial features; subtle
the Armies of the United States of America, London, 1802 (ii); and raising of the eyebrows; and the contracting of the corners of the
another miniature portrait by James Peale (iii). Perhaps even more mouth.
compelling, are four engraved images of Washington after portraits
by Joseph Wright, illustrated in the book prepared by Deborah Lerme Footnotes:
and Diana Menkes and written by Wendy Wick Reaves, George i. Northeast Auctions, 28/29th October 2006, lot 451
Washington, An American Icon, The Eighteenth-Century Graphic ii. Swann Galleries, New York, 13 April 2021, lot 528
Portraits, The Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery, iii. Northeast Auctions, Portsmouth, NH, 25 October 2016, lot 299
Washington D.C., 1982, p. 38, figs 22-24, and p. 113, no. 42. iv. See Patrick Conner, The Magazine Antiques, Vol. 153, no. 3,
March 1998, in an article ‘The enigma of Spoilum and the origins of
Interestingly, the image of Washington (reversed) on the famous China trade portraiture’, pp. 418-425, where it is noted that Spoilum
and unique gold pattern coin struck in 1792 by Jacob Perkins of may be identified with the Cantonese ‘export’ artist named Guan
Massachusetts, bears a very close resemblance to our painting. Zuolin in a Chinese gazetteer (Zheng Rong, Xu Nanhai xianzhi, 1910
Though an impossible prototype in this case, it lends credence to ed., juan 21, p. 9a).
the sitter’s attribution. It is well documented that the images, as
interpreted by Chinese artists were often just that, interpretations.
Therefore, any absolutes with identification, can only be made when
an exact copy of a known work can be compared, as is the case
with Jefferson.

When exhibited at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, it was identified
as ‘an unidentified gentleman who was probably involved in the
China trade during Jefferson’s presidency. He either admired or was
associated with Jefferson and probably commissioned both portraits.’

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