



ATTRIBUTED TO TINGQUA Portrait of Wu Bingjian (Howqua)
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ATTRIBUTED TO TINGQUA
Gouache on paper, Cantonese carved wood frame, glazed.
The painting 22.5cm (8 7/8in) x 21.5cm (8 1/2in) max.
Footnotes
關聯昌(傳) 伍秉鑑肖像 水粉紙本 木雕鏡框
For a comparable portrait in watercolour on paper, see the Victoria & Albert Museum, accession no. E.816-1937
Wu Bingjian, known to westerners as 'Howqua', was a 'hong' merchant. The Chinese government authorised him to trade with Europeans in Canton in the early 19th century. Shortly before 1832 W. H. Chichele Plowden of the English East India Company commissioned the English painter George Chinnery to produce a full-length oil portrait of Howqua. This and the V&A painting are copies of Chinnery's work.