Page 131 - Christie's London China Trade Paintings Kelton Collection

*104
CHINESE SCHOOL, CIRCA 1860
The Second Opium War: British, French, Russian and American troops landing at Taku, 21 August 1860; Signing of
the Peace Treaty; and Bombardment of the Taku Forts by the British and French ships
the frst inscribed 'No 1' (in the margin upper centre)
the second inscribed 'No 2' (in the margin upper centre), further inscribed 'Ms. 101' with a chop mark (upper left border)
the third inscribed 'No 3' (in the margin upper centre), further inscribed with a key to the foreground shipping in the lower margin, from
left to right 'U.S. chartered Str Antelope', 'Russian war. Str "Amerika."', 'U.S. native tender.', 'British native tender'
pen and ink, watercolour and bodycolour heightened with white on paper laid down on linen
the frst 13 x 25in. (33 x 63.5cm.)
the second 13Ω x 27in. (34.2 x 68.6cm.)
the third 13Ω x 25Ωin. (34.2 x 64.8cm.) (3)
£10,000-15,000 US$13,000-18,000
€12,000-17,000

EXHIBITED:
Hong Kong, Hong Kong Maritime Museum, The Dragon and the Eagle: American Traders in China, A Century of Trade from 1784 to
1900, Dec. 2019-April 2019, 2.75 (A-C).
Three years into the Second Opium War, which would result in a second defeat for the Qing Empire, hostilities opened once again
in June 1859 as British, American and French ships tried to force their way up the heavily defended Pei-ho (today the Hai River) and
past the Taku forts in order to establish their diplomatic legations in Peking. On 21 August 1860, a joint allied force mounted an
attack on the fve Taku forts on the banks of the Pei-ho, probably the subject of these three watercolours. After a number of hours
of heavy fghting, a truce was agreed between the two sides in order to remove the dead and wounded. A Franco-British delegation
was dispatched to the small village of Shuiku, where the oficials met with the viceroy of Petcheli. Following the agreement, the
Chinese forces evacuated the forts and withdrew to Tien-tsin before retiring to Peking. On 22 August, the allied forces crossed the
Pei-ho and occupied the remaining Taku forts on the north bank. The route to Tien-tsin lay open. Prior to the allied arrival in Tien-
tsin, on 31 August, two Chinese plenipotentiaries arrived to open peace negotiations. On 7 September, after a week of discussions
based on the same articles as the Treaty of Tien-tsin from 1858, the signing fell through when it transpired that the Chinese
ambassadors did not have the capacity to engage with the imperial court. The negotiations had been merely a delaying tactic to
allow the Chinese emperor to organise the defence of Peking. Anglo-French forces would enter Peking on 6 October, and Lord Elgin
ordered the burning of the Summer Palaces on 18 October. The Convention of Peking which followed legalised the opium trade and
conceded Kowloon to the British.

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