


CHINESE SCHOOL (CIRCA 1860) View of Ho Nam Island across the river from Canton
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CHINESE SCHOOL (CIRCA 1860)
Oil on canvas, carved wood framed.
45cm (17 3/4in) x 77.5cm (30 1/2in).
Footnotes
中國畫派 約一八六零年 廣東遠眺河南島景 布面油畫 木雕框
Provenance: Martyn Gregory, London, acquired October 2005
Published, Illustrated and Exhibited Martyn Gregory, A View from the East: Pictures by Chinese and Western Artists 1750-1930, catalogue 81, London, 2005-6, p.98, no.100.
After the destruction of the Canton 'factories' in December 1856, the Western merchants lodged on the opposite (south) bank of the river in the district of Honam (Honan). This arrangement lasted for several years, until in the early 1860s a new concession was developed upstream at Shamian island. Honam was already familiar to Westerners as the location of venerable temples, and the gardens of Hong merchants including Howqua, along with shops and warehouses.
In this view several waterfront buildings have been adapted to Western specifications, one flies the American flag, with the Portuguese flag also visible.