A VIEW OF THE AMERICAN SETTLEMENT, SHANGHAI QING DYNASTY, CIRCA 1855

Chinese School, oil on canvas, finely painted depicting a rare panorama of the 'American Ground' across the Huangpu River with a variety of rivercraft including tanka boats flying American and British flags ferrying American and British merchants in amongst the larger junks, sampans and foreign vessels, framed

Leggatt Brothers, London, 1962
United Kingdom Private Collection, acquired November 1962.

Oil on canvas, lined. The picture surface is in overall good condition. The colors are fresh and the surface appears clean. Under UV light, scattered retouching is visible to the characteristic craquelure. Some additional re-touching is visible, namely in the clouds and sky. .
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Paintings depicting the panorama of the American Ground at Shanghai are rare. The present impressive canvas is likely to have been commissioned by an American merchant from a Chinese artist in Shanghai in the mid- to late-1850s. The painting illustrates, from left to right: the British Consulate on the north end of the ‘foreign anchorage’ on the Bund, Suzhou Creek and Wills’ Bridge; American houses; the land first occupied by the American Episcopal Church Mission; the American ground (today’s Hongkou district) with the First Protestant Episcopal Church (1848-1868); and the American Consulate flying the flag. The river is occupied with a variety of sea vessels, such as tanka boats flying American and British flags while ferrying American and British merchants in amongst the larger junks, sampans and foreign boats.

Another view of the American Settlement is illustrated in P. Conner, Paintings of the China Trade. The Sze Yuan tang Collection of Historic Paintings, Hong Kong, 2013, pl. 37, which depicts the north end of the Bund overlooking the grounds of the British consulate while looking across the junction of the two rivers.

The Sino-American Treaty of Wanghia was signed on 3rd July 1844, which gave Americans the same rights as those enjoyed by the British in China’s treaty ports. In 1863 the American Concession (from the Huangpu River to the north-east of Suzhou Creek), officially joined the British Settlement (Yang-ching-pang Creek to Suzhou Creek) to become the Shanghai International Settlement.