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UNKNOWN PAINTER, CHINA This large and fine view of the anchorage at Whampoa (Huangpu) is
Whampoa Anchorage, circa 1845 taken from a hill overlooking the foreign cemetery on Dane’s Island.
Oil on canvas, on a stretcher, framed. In the distance is the Whampoa (Pazhou) Pagoda, on Pazhou Island,
Haizhu District, Guangzhou, which survives today. The pagoda was a
US$20,000 - 30,000 landmark for Western sailors and is featured in many Chinese paintings
for the Western market. It was at Whampoa that Western ships were
佚名 黃埔碼頭 布面油畫 約一八四五年作 made to anchor in the Pearl River, with only officers continuing on
to Canton. American and other foreign ships are at anchor, and the
buildings used by foreign traders can be seen in the distance. Chigang
Provenance pagoda, now surrounded by the southern suburbs of Guangzhou
Sotheby’s, New York, 7 April 1988 can be seen on the left. Foreigners could not be buried on Chinese
soil so land was ceded for the purpose of a cemetery for sailors from
來源 Europe and the United States. In 1979 ninety-six graves of Americans
紐約蘇富比，1988年4月7日 were recorded at Whampoa (L.K. Little, Last Harbor: American Graves
at Whampoa, South China, January 1979, unpublished 14-page
manuscript.) A view including the cemetery, which has recently been
restored by the Chinese government, would have been a poignant
reminder of the gains and losses of trade.
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