A Chinese Export 'Hong' Punch Bowl, Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period, 1780-85 | 清乾隆 1780-85年 粉彩廣州十三行景圖大盌

There are many different variations depicting the European hongs (factories) on the Canton waterfront on a Chinese export punch bowl, and the earliest example was produced circa 1765 and illustrated in Bredo L. Grandjean, Dansk Ostindisk Porcelæn, Copenhagen, 1965, fig. 113-114, cat. no. 107, now in the collection of M/S Maritime Museum of Denmark, with one side depicting the hongs and the other side showing the stock exchange in Copenhagen. The hongs were ultimately destroyed in 1856 by a devastating fire, and following that, the Second Opium War began. Between 1765 and the early 19th century, varied views of the hongs were recorded on porcelain, as well as other mediums including Chinese export paintings on canvas and copper. Therefore, hong bowls, in their depiction of the factories and flags, arguably relate more closely to Chinese export paintings rather than other types of Chinese export porcelain and serve as a guide to the evolution of European commerce on the Canton waterfront. In addition, while describing a very similar example in the Hodroff collection at Winterthur, illustrated in Ronald W. Fuchs II and David S. Howard, Made in China, Winterthur, 2005, pp. 138-139, cat. no. 88, the authors note the blending of painting traditions between the continuous horizontal landscape seen in Chinese handscrolls and the Western one-point perspective to create such bowls.

Closely related examples are in major museums and collections, including one example in the Franks Collection at British Museum, illustrated in R.L. Hobson, The Later Ceramic Wares of China, New York, 1925, pl. LXX, fig. 3. Another example is illustrated in William R. Sargent, Treasures of Chinese Export Ceramics from the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, 2012, p. 435, cat. no. 239, where the author attributes the dating of this particular type of hong bowl to between 1779-87, pointing to the design of the yellow Imperial Austrian flag with a double-headed eagle depicted on this bowl, which the hong flew only between 1779 to 1787, thus establishing the date of this design between those years. He further speculates that the monogram MT on the chest of the eagle stands for the empress of Austria, Maria Theresa (1717-80). Another pair of closely related punch bowls, from the collection of Anthony J. Hardy, and on loan to the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, is illustrated in Libby Lai-Pik Chan and Nina Lai-Na Wan, The Dragon and The Eagle: American Traders in China, Hong Kong, 2018, vol. I, pp. 138-139, cat. no. 2.2, where the author further expanded on Sargent's dating of 1779-87, and suggests that since the French flag is white, signifying that the time of manufacture would be prior to the French Revolution, and by the absence of the American flag, which would appear several years later at around 1785, the latest scholarship dates this type of hong bowl would most likely have been made between 1780-85. A nearly identical example, formerly in the James F. Scott collection, was sold in these rooms, October 15th, 2018, lot 245. Another example, formerly in the collection of Arthur and SaraJo Kobacker, sold in these rooms, January 26th, 2020, lot 1901. 

The earliest provenance of the present example traces back to over 110 years ago, when it was acquired by the art dealers Cottier & Co. The firm was founded by Scottish stained glass artist, collector and later fine arts dealer Daniel Cottier in 1869 first in London, and established the New York City branch in 1873, with premises on 3 East 40th Street. Cottier first specialized in European decorative arts and furnishings, and later engaged in trading paintings and watercolors in the New York offices. Upon his death in 1891, the firm's business in New York was succeeded by James S. Inglis, former associate and partner of the firm. Inglis continued operating the gallery under the name of Cottier & Co., or The Cottier Gallery until his death in 1909, and a group of pictures and decorative objects from the firm's holdings sold at American Art Galleries, March 11th-12th, 1909. The firm continued operations until 1915.

The punch bowl entered the collection of Mrs. Charles B. Manning in 1909. Born Mary Elizabeth Carpenter, she was the daughter of Frank Pierce Carpenter (1845-1938), major philanthropist, leading banker and industrialist in Manchester, New Hampshire. The Carpenter family's philanthropic activities included the construction of the Carpenter Memorial Building in 1914 for the Manchester City Library and the lease and subsequent donation of the Frank Pierce Carpenter House, a historic house and fine example of high-style Queen Anne architecture, to the American Red Cross in 1993 and now serves as the offices of the local chapter of the organization. Mary Carpenter married Charles Bartlett Manning (1873-1924), a Harvard and MIT educated engineer who later started his own consulting business, and the couple's home is now the parish house of the Brookside Congregational Church.