Triumphant Grace: Important Americana from the Collection of Barbara and Arun Singh
Triumphant Grace: Important Americana from the Collection of Barbara and Arun Singh
A LARGE VIEW OF SHANGHAI: THE BUND QING DYNASTY, 1850-60 | 清 1850-60年 上海外灘遠眺 油彩 裝框
Auction Closed
January 25, 06:44 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A LARGE VIEW OF SHANGHAI: THE BUND
QING DYNASTY, 1850-60
清 1850-60年 上海外灘遠眺 油彩 裝框
oil on canvas, depicting the Bund at Shanghai across the Huangpu river with the Suzhou creek to the right, in the center the Chinese Customs House, and to its immediate right the tower of Trinity Church, the foreground with western and Chinese vessels
Height 24 in., 60.9 cm; width 43⅛ in., 109.5 cm
The Collection of Louise Bloomingdale and Edgar M. Cullman
Christies New York, January 26, 2015, lot 191
As one of the treaty ports opened to the west as the result of the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, Shanghai became one of the most important ports for western trade in the mid-19th century. Many European and American traders had offices in Shanghai, such as Dent & Co., usually flying the Portuguese flag to the right of the Customs House. Other prominent houses on the Bund include Russell & Co., Heard & Co. and Jardine, Matheson. For a similar view of the Bund by Chow Kwa, see Patrick Conner, Paintings of The China Trade: The Sze Yuan Tang Collection of Historic Paintings, Hong Kong, 2013, cat. no. 38. The small rowing boat in the foreground right is of particular interest, as rowing was a popular sport among westerners in Shanghai, and the Shanghai Regatta Club was founded in 1848. A notable example of a Shanghai Regatta, painted circa 1850, is illustrated in Gateways to China: Trading Ports of the 18th and 19th Centuries, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1987, cat. no. 39.