Page 65 - Chinese Export Art Christie's New York, Jan 21, 2016

THE MILLER COLLECTION

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A GRISAILLE AND GILT ‘HONGS OF CANTON’ PUNCHBOWL
CIRCA 1785

A continuous scene of the Canton waterfront, small junks moored in
the foreground and the foreign factories fying their fags, including
American (possibly later), Dutch and British, the interior with the
British East Indiaman ‘PITT’, named on the stern

14 in. (35.5 cm.) diameter

$30,000-50,000

PROVENANCE:

Acquired from The Art Exchange, New York, in 1952.

This view of the hongs is more painterly than the more familiar
Mandarin palette bowls, with less sky and sea. Though fewer in
number, other grisaille bowls are at The British Museum, Temple
Newsam in Leeds, the Art Institute in Chicago and the Peabody
Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts (illustrated by K. I. Choi, The
Magazine Antiques, October 1999, Hong Bowls and the Landscape
of the China Trade). Most have a foral center or an unnamed ship.
The Pitt was launched in 1780 and sailed to China in 1786 under
Captain George Cowper and in 1788 under Captain Edward
Manning. Her owner, George Mackenzie Macauley, was a Lloyd’s
underwriter, London merchant and alderman.

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