Page 176 - Bonhams September 10 2018 New York Chinese Works of Art

257
LAMQUA (ACTIVE 1825-1860)
Portrait of Ah You
Oil on woven cotton canvas, framed, with an inscription on the Provenance
reverse of the stretcher reading “Xianfeng jiu nian (1859) Guangdong Frost and Reed ltd, London, by repute (label on reverse)
huashi Lingua Guan Xiaocun xie Aomen sanban Yayou xiang” (Ninth
year of Xianfeng reign (1859) Guangdong artist Lamqua Guan This charming depiction of young woman bears the hallmarks of the
Xiaocun painted a portrait of Ah You, sampan (boat woman of) Chinnery/Lamqua style that flourished in the early 19th century China
Macao). Trade painting Macao and Guangdong. The subject’s gentle smile, a
14 x 11in (35.5 x 28cm) touch of vivid red in the lips and flashes of light from the distant fire
beneath the pagoda and in the finger ring of the sitter are the aesthetic
$10,000 - 15,000 attributes from this school of painting. Both George Chinnery (1774-
1852) and Lamqua were known to have depicted a Tanka (Danjia
啉呱 關曉村 亞有肖像圖 布面油畫 minority) boatwoman named Ah You or Ah Loy as their model.

For a close look at Lamqua’s work, see Patrick Conner’s “Lamqua
Western and Chinese Painter” in Arts of Asia, vol 29 no 2 , pp 46-64,
including another painting with a similarly inscribed stretcher, figure 27.

174 | BONHAMS