Page 30 - Bonhams Scholars Art and Instruments Hong Kong December 2, 2021

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A RARE SET OF TWENTY-FOUR PAINTINGS OF CHINESE
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
19th century
Watercolour and gouache on paper, 24 leaves, the album depicting
twenty-three sets of Chinese musical instruments including gongs,
bells, flutes, zithers etc., and a Chinese orchestra of seventeen figures,
each drawing captioned in English in ink by an unidentified English
traveller and musician, framed and glazed.
44.3cm (17 1/2in) x 30.5cm (12in) (24).
HKD400,000 - 600,000
US$51,000 - 77,000

十九世紀 水彩樂器及樂隊圖冊

Published and Illustrated:
M.Gregory, From China to the West: Historial pictures by Chinese and
Western artists 1770-1870, London, 2012, no.77

出版及著錄：
M.Gregoy, 《From China to the West: Historial pictures by Chinese and
Western artists 1770-1870》，倫敦，2012年，編號77

These remarkable paintings appear to have been commissioned 水粉紙本，二十四開，其中廿三開描繪各式中國樂器，一開描繪一組十
by Matthew Raper, who was a council member of the East India 七人管弦樂隊，每頁下方有英文標題及注釋。樂隊人物十六人男一人
Company in Canton between 1767 until 1777, and who evidently took 女，所著服飾似官府中人或旗人，並非街頭遊藝之士。此類水彩畫主要
a strong interest in Chinese musical instruments. These paintings seem 於十八、十九世紀出口歐洲，介紹中國風土人情。中國繪畫中文人雅集
to have formed the basis for two sheets of drawings by Raper himself, 常有樂器或樂隊相伴，而少有寫實描繪樂器的例子，多為寫意一筆帶
which are collected in the British Library (Add. MS 33931). 過。此冊極為真實地展現了十八、十九世紀中國較為正式的樂隊組合，
亦詳細描繪出了當時樂器的細節，頗有歷史價值。 此圖冊極有可能是
Compare with two very similar albums of Chinese musical instruments, 英國東印度公司大班白立把（Matthew Raper）與1767至1777年間在廣
one of twelve leaves and the other of thirty-eight leaves in The 東特別訂製而作。
University of Manchester Library, ac.no.JRL1100030dc and listed in
the Handlist of the Chinese Collections in The John Rylands University 英國曼徹斯特大學圖書館藏有一冊三十七頁的水粉樂器及樂隊冊頁，
Library of Manchester, Manchester, 1991, pp. 40-42. 與本件所繪幾乎相同，見《Handlist of the Chinese Collections in The
John Rylands University Library of Mancheste》，曼徹斯特，1991年，頁
40-42，館藏編號JRL1100030dc。

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