William Alexander(British, 1767-1816)Pagoda of Lin-ching-shih on the Grand Canal 28.5 x 44 cm. (11 1/4 x 17 1/4 in.)
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Find your local specialistWilliam Alexander (British, 1767-1816)
signed and dated 'W. Alexander '95
watercolour
28.5 x 44 cm. (11 1/4 x 17 1/4 in.)
Footnotes
PROVENANCE:
With Leger Galleries, Old Bond Street, London;
HSBC Bank plc, 27-32 Poultry, London, EC2. The proceeds of sale is to be donated to charitable causes supported by HSBC Bank plc.
William Alexander was appointed the official draughtsman to the first British embassy to reach China, led by Lord Macartney in 1792-4. The purpose of Macartney's trip was to negotiate with the Emperor of China over trade and encourage him to lift some of the restrictions he had imposed. Macartney also hoped to establish a permanent British embassy in Peking and together with a team of experts, discover enough information about China, so that Britain's understanding of the country might be strengthened.
Lord Macartney's embassy arrived at the Grand Canal near the town of Lin-ching-shih in October 1793, having travelled along the river Eu-ho. The present work depicts the pagoda in the town. Pagodas had a similar function to church towers. They were not in themselves necessarily places of worship but they were usually close to a temple or shrine and served the purpose of denoting a sacred place. The architectural form of the pagoda was already well-known in Britain through Sir William Chambers's tower at Kew which was completed in imitation of the pagoda at Nanking.
A version of this work belonging to Maidstone Museums and Art Gallery, is illustrated in Susan Legouix, Image of China, William Alexander, Jupiter Books, 1980, plate 49. A second version is in the Paul Mellon collection at the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven. Two less finished watercolours of the same scene are in volume III of the India Office Library collection. William Bryne engraved the subject for plate 33 of Staunton. All the versions show slight variations in the placing and attitudes of the figures.