Page 101 - Bonhams Sept 2016 CHINESE WORKS OF ART AND PAINTINGS

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ANGLO-CHINESE SCHOOL, EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Officials Assembling for the Trial of Seamen of the Ship Neptune
Oil on canvas, framed.
12 3/4 x 15in (32.5 x 38cm)
US$10,000 - 15,000
十九世紀早期 外銷油畫繪英國水手等待法庭審判 油彩畫布 鏡框
The scene illustrates in great detail the gathering in the public square
in the foreign factory site in Jiaqing period Guangdong. Specifically
from left to right the buildings depicted are the Imperial hong, the
Swedish hong, the Old English hong- the doorway marked with a
red banner to signal the occasion at hand--the Fungtai hong, and the
New English hong. Under a foreboding sky on the right, a crowd of
merchants emerges from Hog Lane, a dense strip of open front shops
selling tobacco, food, spirits, and novelties catering to the foreigners;
and from the left a procession of officials approaches.
All have gathered for the 1807 trial of fifty-two seamen of the East
Indiaman Neptune, accused in the death of a Chinese citizen, Leu
A-Ting, during a vengeful riot, itself a response to a robbery. After six
weeks without a settlement, during which all trade was suspended,
the sailors were interrogated by senior Chinese merchants and their
British counterparts. Ultimately only one was found guilty of accidental
manslaughter, receiving a small fine of four pounds--to the victim’s
family to defray burial expenses--and a year of house arrest. A lenient
penalty, but in accordance with Qing law, and far less severe than
death by strangulation, the punishment had the guilty party been
charged with murder.
Other nearly identical compositions of this celebrated event are extant.
Versions are in the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and the
Hong Kong Museum of Art. In addition to activity outside the court,
there is also a companion piece that illustrates the trial itself.
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