Chinese Large Watercolours on Paper of Junks and Sampans, After drawings done by William Alexander for Sir John Barrow

Chinese Large Watercolours on Paper of Junks and Sampans.

After drawings done by William Alexander for Sir John Barrow.

Circa 1805-10.

Each of the six watercolours on European paper have a written inscription to the bottom right describing the type of boat after the images made by William Alexander for Sir John Barrow's Travels in China published in 1804.  

The watercolours are named:

A Common Cargo Boat carrying Cotton,
A Boatman of Canton selling flowers,
A boat selling coarse crockery ware,
Girls gathering Waterlilies, Canton provinces,
A Common Ferry boat, Canton Provinces.

The large watercolours on European paper are particularly large and each is framed in a contemporary eglomisé and découpage frame.  The detail is extraordinary with every small aspect depicted with care including reflections in the still water.  The subjects are good as is the colour. There are a number of images here which one does not normally see in these sets.  Each depiction is of the finest quality with details such as the reflection of the boats in the water.

Dimensions: 23 inches wide x 19 1/2 inches,  (49.53cm high x 58.42cm wide)

Reference:

In 1804 Sir John Barrow published "Travels in China: containing descriptions, observations, and comparisons, made and collected in the course of a short residence at the imperial palace of Yuen-Min-Yuen, and on a subsequent journey through the country from Pekin to Canton. : In which it is attempted to appreciate the rank that this extraordinary empire may be considered to hold in the scale of civilized nations".

Reference: Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet, FRS, FRGS, LL. D (19 June 1764 - 23 November 1848) was an English statesman.

He was born in the hamlet of Dragley Beck in the parish of Ulverston in Lancashire. He started in life as superintending clerk of an iron foundry at Liverpool and afterwards, in his twenties, taught mathematics at a private school in Greenwich.

Through the interest of Sir George Leonard Staunton, to whose son he taught mathematics, he was attached on the first British embassy to China from 1792-94 as comptroller of the household to Lord Macartney. He soon acquired a good knowledge of the Chinese language, on which he subsequently contributed interesting articles to the Quarterly Review; and the account of the embassy published by Sir George Staunton records many of Barrow's valuable contributions to literature and science connected with China.

Although Barrow ceased to be officially connected with Chinese affairs after the return of the embassy in 1794, he always took much interest in them, and on critical occasions was frequently consulted by the British government.

 William Alexander (1767-1816)

William Alexander studied under William Pars and J.C. Ibbetson before joining the Royal Academy Schools in 1784. He was appointed as one of the draughtsmen to join Lord McCartney's Embassy to China, which set sail in 1792. For two years he filled his sketch books with landscapes, figure subjects and events which he was able to use to good advantage on his return to England, illustrating Sir George Staunton's, Account of the Embassy, 1797, and Sir John. Barrow's, Travels in China, 1804 and again the latter's Voyage to Cochin-China. He also published his own works on The Headlands and Island etc.....of China in 1798 and a book on the dress and manners of the Chinese in 1814. He was appointed Professor of Drawing at the Military College of Great Marlow. Later in 1808 he became Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, a position that he kept until his death. In addition to painting English landscapes, he also drew detailed drawings of antiquities.

William Alexander works are to be found in most major British collections but perhaps the largest collection is to be found in the Maidstone Museum in the town of his birth.

(Ref: VM98509)

Dimensions

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

Condition report

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