Page 62 - Christie's London China Trade Paintings Kelton Collection

The Chinese, collectively, appear to be ingenious in their peaceful arts;
polished and courteous in their manners ...
G.H. Mason

*39
CHINESE SCHOOL, CIRCA 1820
The furnished interiors of a Chinese House – a set of eight
pencil and bodycolour on silk laid down on paper
each 19 x 23in. (48.2 x 58.4cm.) including margins (8)
£30,000-40,000 US$38,000-49,000
€34,000-45,000
PROVENANCE:
Anon. sale, Christie's, New York, 15 Oct. 1986, lot 53.
This very fne set of interiors is painted on silk, within a painted border, sharing the style and format of the previous two lots, and
undoubtedly from the same studio. These exquisite interiors and views looking out of pavilions set among water gardens may
describe the grand residences of the Hong merchants, such as the fabulously wealthy Howqua, or Mowqua and Consequa, all of
whom are known to have entertained Western merchants 'at home' across the river at Honam, and given them glimpses of Chinese
domestic life that they could not see in their confned quarters outside the city walls on the opposite waterfront. The drawings
provide a valuable and minutely detailed record of provincial Chinese architecture, furniture, decorative arts, interior (and garden)
design at the end of the 18th century, and are expressions of the sensibility and sophistication that beguiled the European audience
in the late 18th century, just as George Henry Mason expressed in 1800: 'From the attentive hospitality of some of the gentlemen
then residing at the British factory, the Editor received, during a stay of several months, important information. Under the auspices
of those gentlemen he partook of several entertainments given by the Hong merchants at their own houses; from which advantages,
with the aid of some donations, unwearied diligence, and frequent exertions of patience, he obtained no very inconsiderable
knowledge of the Chinese customs. The Chinese, collectively, appear to be ingenious in their peaceful arts; polished and courteous
in their manners; moral and sagacious in their civil institutes ...' (G.H. Mason, Costume of China, Preface, London, 1800).

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