Page 25 - Christie's London China Trade Paintings Kelton Collection

*9
CHINESE SCHOOL, C.1800-1820
Penang; Cape Town; Canton; Malacca; St Helena; and Macao
titled ‘Penang’, ‘Cape Town’, ‘Factorys Canton’, ‘Mallacca’, ‘St Helena’ and ‘Maccoa’ on the backing boards
oil on brass
each 4¡ x 5√in. (11.1 x 15.2cm.)
in their original Chinese frames, mounted within two later glazed frames (6)
£30,000-40,000 US$38,000-49,000
€34,000-45,000

PROVENANCE:
Anon. sale, Sotheby’s, London, 17 June 1999, lot 140.
This set of six includes the very rare views of Malacca and Penang. The views may be by diferent hands, as the St Helena view
must have been taken from the print published in 1815, while other subjects here, such as Canton, date to before 1810.
The Penang view is one of the very early views of Penang and its painted source remains unidentifed. A variant, also on brass, was
with Martyn Gregory in 1985, for which see Martyn Gregory, 1985, cat.41, p.15, no.21, and Lim Chong Keat, Penang Views 1770-
1860, Singapore, 1986, pp.52, 62 and 219, pl.29.
The Cape view is a copy of Orme’s aquatint (‘A View of the Cape of Good Hope’) published on 4 June 1806, commemorating the
taking of the Cape of Good Hope by the British in January 1806 (for which see R.F. Kennedy, Catalogue of Prints in the African
Museum, I, A-K, Johannesburg, 1975, CI53).
The Canton view can be dated to before 1810, the Old English factory, two doors down from Hog Lane, seen before its Palladian
façade and pediment were added. The fags of the Danish, Spanish, American, Swedish, British and Dutch factories are fying.
The Malacca view dates to the period of British rule between 1795 and 1818 and shows the Straits Settlements from the sea, with
British, Dutch, American and Chinese shipping moored ofshore, the British fag fying on the fagstaf over the old fortress beyond.
The St Helena view is a copy of plate 2 (‘The Roads, St Helena’) of George Hutchins Belassis’s Views of Saint Helena, published
London, 1 Nov. 1815, for which see R.F. Kennedy, Ibid, B235.
The Macao view looks out from the head of the penisula north-east towards the Chinese mainland, over the Praya Grande on the
right and the Inner Harbour on the left.