Footnotes

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)

來源：Arnold Seligmann，Rey & Co., Inc.，紐約
Usher P.Coolidge (1917-1971)，並由後人保存
倫敦古董商Martyn Gregory

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.