Page 200 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art 09/13/17
P. 200
196
MAGNIFICENT VIEW OF THE PROVENANCE Chinese School paintings in the collection of the
PEARL RIVER OFF HONAM ISLAND, Peabody Museum, Salem, and other American
CANTON Collection of Charles Forte, Baron Forte of Ripley institutions.
QING DYNASTY, CIRCA 1840 (1908-2007), London.
Christie’s London, 12th July 2012, lot 120. The scene can be identi ed by the presence of
two European forts: the Dutch Folly Fort (center
Chinese School, oil on canvas; a well-painted LITERATURE right), across from the Western quarter, and
expansive view from the south side of the Pearl French Folly Fort (far right), an island fort just
River, where the European factories were located, Carl L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the below Canton. Westerners had been restricted
the calm waters bustling with junks, sampans China Trade, Woodbridge, 1991, pl. 26. by the Emperor to their trading concessions (the
and ‘ ower boats’, towards Honam Island, the ‘Thirteen Factories’ area) on the north shore;
shore dotted with warehouses and distinctive This exceptionally large and exquisitely detailed however they had always been allowed to cross
landmarks including the Dutch Folly and Red Fort, painting of a port view would have been over to Honam. By the end of the nineteenth
framed commissioned by one of the leading Western century the river opposite Honam had a oating
Height 35 in., 88.9 cm; Width 78 in., 198.1 cm traders in Canton, the biggest of the treaty ports, population of over 100,000 people.
possibly as a souvenir gift to send or take back
home. It is recorded that many of these paintings
went to America, hence the large number of
198 SOTHEBY’S
