Page 172 - Made For Trade Chinese Export Paintings In Dutch Collections

64 pag:Opmaak 1
18-10-2016 15:46 Pagina 43
roos boek 129-192 d

Panoramic view of the waterfront of Canton
This chapter continues by revealing the
trajectory of a panoramic view of the Pearl River
and the quay of Canton in the collection of
8
Museum Volkenkunde in Leiden. (Figure 5.1.)
This painting belongs to the so-called
Leembruggen Collection. This is a collection of
ten Chinese export oil paintings that comprises
other harbour views of Canton and Macao, the
Dutch folly fort in the Pearl River, two portraits
of Chinese literati, two garden scenes with
women and children on a veranda, and two
(severely damaged) paintings of Tanka boat
women in the style of the legendary English dwellings, as seen from the river, are depicted in Fig. 5.2. View of the
Chinese trade painter George Chinnery (1774- the middle ground. Above this scene is a high waterfront of Canton
1852), who stayed in Macao from 1825 until his sky, in which light cloud cover can be discerned. (detail with Dutch and
9
death in 1852. The cultural biography of this The Western trading factories can be seen left of French folly forts),
large painting may reveal something about its the centre. From left to right the flags of these anonymous, oil on
function and use value over the course of time. factories can be identified as those of France, canvas, 1845-1855,
That is to say, from the moment of the United States – with a dense garden in front of 87.5 x 200 cm,
(intentional) purchase by its first owner, Tonco the door and its flag just visible – and Great Museum Volkenkunde/
Modderman (1813-1858), in the mid-nineteenth Britain, with the Red Ensign or Red Duster, the Nationaal Museum van
century in China (the material condensation British merchant navy flag with the Union Jack Wereldculturen,
process), through its overlooked life in the early in its upper left corner, which has been flying on inv.no. RV-B3-1.
twenty-first century as a long-term loan in the British merchant ships since the seventeenth
basement of this Leiden museum, to its future century. 11
status as an educational and revealing object, It is impossible to see the representation of the
accessible in its former glory for anyone who depicted setting as real. When we detect the
would like to learn about the past (the composition of this this painting it is clear this
evaporation process, or, in other words: the constructed landscape combines different
dissemination of its narrative). cultural conventions. On the one hand, because
This remarkably wide panorama looks north of its wideness and its multiple perspectives, this
from Honam, the island lying south of the city harbour view can be read almost like a Chinese
of Canton along the mainland, and encompasses handscroll, reading from right to left. On the
the entire river frontage from the Western other hand, the composition of this painting is
suburbs on the left to the French folly fort on the typical for seventeenth-century European
extreme right. 10 Figure 5.2. shows the Dutch landscape art, with two-thirds of the canvas used
folly fort, enclosed by a thicket of banyan trees, for the sky, a low horizon line and a mainly
to the right of the centre; beyond it is the old city bird’s-eye perspective. In this way, this
of Canton, backed by White Cloud Mountain representation of the thriving port city of
(Bai yun shan), with the French folly fort on the Canton on this transcultural artwork displays
right. Visible on the skyline are the three the interweaving of local and global knowledge
landmarks of the Huai Sheng Mosque (or on painting conventions. Application of this
Mohammedan Tower), which was built in the integrated, shared painting style accrued value to
Tang dynasty as a lighthouse, the Flowery (or the painting as an artwork and commodity at
Nine-storey) Pagoda and the Zenhai (or Five- the same time. Although many similar – but all
storey) Observation Tower. Life on the Pearl slightly different – representations of this scene
River appears to play a more important role in are known (commodity), in this case the
this painting than do the Western trading individual authorship is recognisable and its
stations. The river, with hundreds of boats, is historical and material value – the narrative
depicted in the foreground. The quay and its makes this painting an interesting object to

---
8 Inv.no. B3-1.
9 Inv.nos. B3-2 to 10.
10 Van der Poel 2007, 29-31.
11 Crossman 1991, 436. Conner 2009, 182-185.