Page 37 - Christie's London China Trade Paintings Kelton Collection

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SPOILUM (FL.C.1774-C.1805)
Portrait of a Captain of the British East India Company, bust length
oil and gold paint on canvas
oval
16Ω x 13ºin. (40.8 x 33.6cm.)
in the original gilt-wood frame
£20,000-30,000 US$25,000-37,000
€23,000-34,000

PROVENANCE:
with Martyn Gregory, London, 1987, cat.47, no.117.
A characteristic portrait by Spoilum, in its original gilt frame, closely similar to other portraits of oficers of the East India Company
marine, in costume (the blue jacket and gold buttons with the Company's lion emblem, with a jewelled cameo on the cravat) and
format (bust length, with a lighter background to the left side of the sitter's face, in a framed oval). Compare the portraits with
Martyn Gregory, 1991, cat.57, no.115 and 2008, cat.97, no.93.
Spoilum was the frst Cantonese artist working for the western market to be identifed. He is thought to be Guan Zuolin from the
prefecture of Nanhai, in the western part of Canton, who travelled to Europe and America and opened a studio in Canton on his
return to China. His work has immediate afinities with provincial 18th-century portraiture on the eastern seabord of the United
States, suggesting he saw western portraiture on his travels. His earliest known work (a reverse glass painting) dates to the mid-
1770s, and the frst works in this oval format to the mid-1780s. He is thought to be the father of Lamqua (Guan Qiaochang), whose
early portraits share the format and style of Spoilum's mature portraiture.

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