Page 55 - Christie's London China Trade Paintings Kelton Collection

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CHINESE SCHOOL, CIRCA 1830
The Western Factories at Canton
inscribed 'Canton' (lower left)
bodycolour on pith paper laid down on card
5Ω x 8¡in. (14 x 21.2cm.)
£6,000-8,000 US$7,500-10,000
€6,800-9,000

PROVENANCE:
Anon. sale, Christie's, New York, 29 Jan. 1986, lot 12.
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, no.2.3.
The view of the Western factories or Hongs sees the American and Dutch fags fying over their respective factories (the fags
notifying that the nations are in residence). The Hongs have been rebuilt after the fre of November 1822. The central cleared area,
not fenced in as it was before the fre, was variously known as Respondentia Walk, Factory Square and The Esplanade, and grew
in size as land was reclaimed from the river. In the centre and on the water’s edge stands the central custom house, one of three
on the creek at Canton. Little more than a bamboo shed at this period, it took on a more substantial form in the 1830s. The busy
shoreline gives an indication of the extent of the trafic and commerce at Canton in the early nineteenth century, before the China
trade was dispersed to the new treaty ports such as Hong Kong and Shanghai in the mid-nineteenth century.

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fee are also payable if the lot has a tax or λ symbol. Check Section D of the Conditions of Sale at the back of this catalogue.