CHINESE SCHOOL (SECOND HALF 19TH CENTURY)

A junk in the China sea

Watercolour on board, 42.7 x 54 cm

Note

The Chinese artist follows the standard convention for this type of paintings, executed in Canton, or possibly Hong Kong or Macau, showing a full masted local junk with its array of banners and crew. The foreground is rendered darker to convey a sense of depth to the scene. Chinese painters, in workshops under the supervision of a master painter, executed watercolour or oil paintings, showing local ships, foreign trade ships, trade ports or local scenes in large numbers during the 19th century. These “China Trade” pictures were acquired by foreigners who lived in, or visited the South China Sea ports, to take back home as exotic mementos of their Chinese experience.