FINE CHINA TRADE PAITNINGS FROM MARTYN GREGORY, LONDON, PART II
WILLIAM ALEXANDER (1767-1818)
A view of Pai-Loo, improperly called a Triumphal Arch, and of a Chinese Fortress Pencil and watercolour, signed 'W Alexander F' and inscribed in Chinese characters on the gate, framed, together with an engraving of the same by J.Chapman, 1796. 28.6cm (11 1/4in) high x 45.4cm (17 7/8in) wide (2).
William Alexander (1767-1818) 牌樓景觀 鉛筆水彩 有框
Provenance: Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co., Inc., New York Usher P.Coolidge (1917-1971), and thence by descent Martyn Gregory, London
Published and Illustrated: Sir G.L. Staunton, An Authentic Account of An Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China, 1797, vol.3, pl.31 (as an engraving by J.Chapman with the above title)
展覽著錄：Sir G.L. Staunton，《An Authentic Account of An Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China》，1797年，卷3，圖片31（J. Chapman所作的版畫，標題如上）(著錄)
The first British Embassy to China, led in 1792-1794 by Lord Macartney, yielded a group of detailed pictures of unrivalled quality and variety. These were the work of William Alexander, 'draughtsman' to the Embassy. Until that time no professional artist from the West had been able travel and sketch in the interior of China. When the Embassy returned home, Alexander's drawings and watercolours were widely circulated through the medium of engraving. His work offered Westerners a vision of China that was fresh, vivid and appreciative.
The Embassy, conveyed by a squadron of three ships, sailed Portsmouth on 21 Sept. 1792, and arrived at the mouth of the Peiho River in northern China on 5 August 1793. From here they made their way to Peking (Beijing). The audience with the Qianlong Emperor took place at the Imperial retreat of Jehol on 14 September 1793. Here and elsewhere in China the Ambassador and his retinue were hospitably received, but the Embassy's diplomatic and commercial objectives were not achieved.
The members of the Embassy were however enabled to see a good deal of the Chinese hinterland, since they made the long journey southwards to Canton (Guangzhou) by inland waterway, on junks provided by the Chinese Government for the purpose. Some of Alexander's finest watercolours were executed on this journey, and the present example must be included among them.
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