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 RARE AND IMPRESSIVE PANORAMIC VIEW OF MACAO, ATTRIBUTED TO SUNQUA QING DYNASTY, CIRCA 1850 | 清 約1850年 新呱（傳）澳門南灣全景遠眺 油彩 裝框
Auction Closed
January 25, 06:44 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
A RARE AND IMPRESSIVE PANORAMIC VIEW OF MACAO, ATTRIBUTED TO SUNQUA
QING DYNASTY, CIRCA 1850
清 約1850年 新呱（傳）澳門南灣全景遠眺 油彩 裝框
oil on canvas, depicting the view of Macao from Lappa Island with the Penha hill on the left extending through Fort Guia on the right, extending through Palacio, the Governor's Residence and Fort Monte, the foreground with a two-masted yacht flying the American flag among Chinese and western boats, with Chinese gilt and black-lacquered wood frame
Height 16¼ in., 41.3 cm; width 55 in., 139.7 cm
The Collection of Gideon Nye, New Bedford, Massachusetts
His daugher, Sylvia Parson Nye
Her grandson, Edward Ogley, San Juan, Puerto Rico
William Putnam, San Juan, Puerto Rico, until 1969
The Bertram K. Little and Nina Fletcher Little Collection
Sotheby's, New York, January 29, 1994, lot 450
Margruerite Riordan, Stonington, Connecticut
Carl L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, Suffolk, 1991, p. 131 (not illustrated)
M.V. and Dorothy Brewington, Marine Paintings and Drawings in the Peabody Museum, Salem, MA, 1968, p. 85
Sunqua (active 1830-70) painted with a distinctive style that has earned him the reputation of one of the most important Chinese painters for the European market of the 19th century. As described in Carl L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, Suffolk, 1991, p. 125, Sunqua's earliest works are identifiable by the distinctive use of free brushstrokes and a warm color overall. Sunqua was also known for the delicate treatment of details in his pictures. His later works, such as the current example, are not usually signed. His style became more in tune with the works of other contemporary artists, but his brushstroke remains fluid and the composition and coloring of his paintings becomes stronger.
This exemplary painting demonstrates Sunqua's later style, and is discussed in Crossman, op. cit., pp. 130-131. Crossman mentions that this particular picture, along with a large view of Canton was acquired by the same person, Gideon Nye of New Bradford. He was a clipper ship owner and tea importer who went to China in the 1840s, and this painting passed down in the family through several generations. A virtually identical painting in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum is illustrated in M.V. and Dorothy Brewington, Marine Paintings and Drawings in the Peabody Musuem, Salem, MA, 1968, fig. 372.