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FINE CHINA TRADE PAINTINGS FROM MARTYN GREGORY, LONDON, PART II
Lot 175*

SPOILUM (ACTIVE 1770-1805)
Full-length portrait of John Smith Crary on the south China coast

Fine Chinese Art
15 May 2025, 11:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £38,400 inc. premium

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SPOILUM (ACTIVE 1770-1805)

Full-length portrait of John Smith Crary on the south China coast
Oil on canvas, inscribed verso 'J.S.C.'; also inscribed on old label 'MY FATHER'S PICTURE/ J.S.CRARY/ Visited in China before/ marriage between 1809-/1810', framed.
78.7cm (32in) high x 58cm (22 7/8in) wide.

Footnotes

史貝霖（活躍於1770-1805） John Smith Crary在南中國海岸的全身像 布面油畫 有框

Provenance: Martyn Gregory, London

Published, Illustrated and Exhibited: Martyn Gregory, The Art of the China Trade, catalogue 86, London, 2010/2011, p.103, no.109
Martyn Gregory, China in the Frame: Historical pictures by Chinese and Western artists 1780-1980, catalogue 101, London, 2020/2021, p.93, no.96

來源：倫敦古董商Martyn Gregory

展覽著錄：Martyn Gregory，《The Art of the China Trade, catalogue 86》，倫敦，2010/2011年，第103頁，編號109
Martyn Gregory，《China in the Frame: Historical pictures by Chinese and Western artists 1780-1980, catalogue 101》，倫敦，2020/2021年，第93頁，編號96

John Smith Crary, son of Peter Crary IV (1748-1822) was born in Stonington, New London, CT, and died in New York City in 1837; he married Henrietta Havens on 30 June 1812. The Crary firm were large-scale importers in the early years of the nineteenth century with a speciality in silks imported from China. In 1822 P. and S. Crary & Co. moved to 177 Pearl Street, New York, premises later occupied by Street, New Astok. In 1832 Crary became the President of the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad Company which created a railroad that ran from Providence R.L.

Crary is depicted in his mid-twenties at a writing desk in a carpeted room, likely his office in Canton. A full-length portrait in this manner is extremely unusual within Spoilum's oeuvre. John Smith Crary is described as 'the pink of politeness. His wardrobe was perfect, and his dress unexceptionable. He was the financial man of the house, and he engineered their immense operations' (Walter Barrett, The Old Merchants York, 1863, pp.83-84).

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