Attributed to Chow Qua Studio (fl. 1855-1867) View of the Bund, Shanghai
Attributed to Chow Qua Studio (fl. 1855-1867)
View of the Bund, Shanghai
Oil on canvas, Chinese Chippendale-style ebonized and gilt carved wood frame.
19.75 x 39in (50.17 x 99cm)
Framed: 24.25 x 43.75in (62 x 111.13cm)
Footnotes:
傳周呱（活躍於1855-1867年） 《上海外灘》 布面油彩裝奇彭代爾風格金漆木框
Provenance:
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York.
來源：
紐約Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc.藝廊
Lots 180 and 183 present two panoramic views of the Shanghai Bund as it would have appeared in during the reign of the Tongzhi emperor (1862-1874). Each painting depicts the one mile stretch along the bank of the Huangpu River, as seen from Pudong, on the opposite bank. In the foreground, paddle steamers and clipper ships bearing international flags mingle with local craft in navigating the crowded river's current. Among the key buildings identifiable is, just left of center, the scarlet façade of the Chinese Customs House (a former temple), built in 1846. To the left of the customs house in a spacious garden setting, are the offices and residence of Russell & Co., the largest American trading firm in China between 1842 and 1891. The Boston-based firm's principal partner was consul of Sweden and Norway, whose flag flies at the western end of their compound. Between this building and the French consulate is the three-story pedimented Shanghai Club (1864). To the right of the customs house is the headquarters of Dent & Co. (dissolved in 1865) who were agents for the Portuguese, so flew their flag. To the right of Dent & Co. is the flag of the P. & O. Steam Navigation Company and the tower Trinity Church, formerly the Episcopal Church first built in 1847. Further right is the square building of the American firm of Augustine Heard and Co. which ran the steamer business on the south coast of China until 1875. The Russian eagle flew from their flagstaff as they were agents for Russia. Further to the right are the premises of Jardine, Matheson & Co. the most important British firm active in China. At the far right is the Wills Bridge (completed in October 1856) crossing Soochow Creek, while at the far left is the Yangjingbang Bridge, built in 1856. As with other port views, the interest in Western and Chinese ships and river craft is evident, with the varieties of sailing vessels, steam vessels, sampans, tanka boats, junks, and anchored ships of the United States, Britain and France, including a cutter (a single-masted sailing rig with two headsails), and the covered ('hulked') Indiaman used as an opium receiving ship. The western ships in the various views of the Bund and river change from painting to painting, as the accuracy of which ships were in port at any given point was undoubtedly of great interest to the commissioning Westerner. However, the type and location of local Chinese craft tend to be repeated with minor variation.
These paintings depict Shanghai at a fascinating point in the city's history. In 1843, just decades before these pictures were painted, Shanghai was established as a Western Treaty port, opening to international trade and providing direct access to the fertile Jiangnan region to foreign ships. The land to the north of the old Chinese city was quickly developed, first by the British in 1845, then the American in 1848 and the French in 1849. By 1860 the foreign concessions lined the river front with houses, bank and consulates, of which only the British consulate survives. Shanghai blossomed and eclipsed Guangzhou as the center for China's export trade.
Finely detailed panoramic views of the Bund were a specialty of Chow Qua, the unrivaled master of views of Shanghai. Little is known of the artist other than his name was Su Zhaocheng and his studio was first on Park Lane and later Hankow Road. His signature or label appears on other versions of paintings which illustrate the embanked quayside. Chinese artists began creating with Western media such as oil paints and gouaches as early as 1750, and shortly thereafter numerous studios emerged in Guangzhou to cater to European and American tastes, who sought to return home with topographical depictions of China. In addition to adopting the Western media of oil on canvas, the low horizon and painted sky are also concessions to European aesthetics. However, the head-on view and horizontal format are reminiscent of a traditional Chinese topographic handscroll.
The majority surviving compositions from this genre of painting illustrate Hong Kong, Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta. Images of Shanghai are rare. Although stylistically linked to Guangzhou school artists, images of Shanghai and its environs are frequently linked to Chow Qua (active 1855-1867) a Shanghai-based painter who had a studio on Hankow Road, running perpendicular to the Shanghai Bund. A similar Bund depiction, bearing a rarely displayed signature of Chow Qua was offered at Christies as lot 11, on 28 October 2015. The numerous similarities with the Christies' example indicate these two lots were also likely produced by the Chow Qua studio.
For more on Chow Qua and images of the Bund, see E. Politzer, 'The Changing Face of the Shanghai Bund Circa 1849-1879', Arts of Asia, vol.35, no.2, March-April 2005, p.70); and also, Christian Henriot, 'The Shanghai Bund in myth and history: an essay through textural and visual sources, Journal of Modern Chinese History, 2010.
Related works: Another example of the same size, with the artist's label, 'CHOW KWA,' printed in Chinese and Western script attached to the stretcher in Martyn Gregory, From China to the West, catalogue 74, 1999, no. 108, p. 88-89; another of same size with some of the same Chinese vessels in the foreground is in the Sze Yuan Tang Collection of China Coast Paintings, in Patrick Conner, Chinese Views – Western Perspectives 1770-1870, Asia House, London, 1996, no. 17, p. 29; another with the same proportions but slightly smaller (20.5 x 38.2in), with the same six Chinese river craft in the foreground and attributed to Chow Qua, offered by Martyn Gregory, Trade Routes to the East, catalogue 72, 1998, no. 114, p. 74; related views by Chow Qua in Martyn Gregory, catalogue 56, no. 121 and catalogue 66, no. 99; a view with the same Chinese vessels in the foreground, Brunk Auctions, Asheville, NC, January 8, 2011, lot 287.
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Attributed to Chow Qua Studio (fl. 1855-1867)
View of the Bund, Shanghai
Oil on canvas, Chinese Chippendale-style ebonized and gilt carved wood frame.
19.75 x 39in (50.17 x 99cm)
Framed: 24.25 x 43.75in (62 x 111.13cm)
Footnotes:
傳周呱（活躍於1855-1867年） 《上海外灘》 布面油彩裝奇彭代爾風格金漆木框
Provenance:
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York.
來源：
紐約Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc.藝廊
Lots 180 and 183 present two panoramic views of the Shanghai Bund as it would have appeared in during the reign of the Tongzhi emperor (1862-1874). Each painting depicts the one mile stretch along the bank of the Huangpu River, as seen from Pudong, on the opposite bank. In the foreground, paddle steamers and clipper ships bearing international flags mingle with local craft in navigating the crowded river's current. Among the key buildings identifiable is, just left of center, the scarlet façade of the Chinese Customs House (a former temple), built in 1846. To the left of the customs house in a spacious garden setting, are the offices and residence of Russell & Co., the largest American trading firm in China between 1842 and 1891. The Boston-based firm's principal partner was consul of Sweden and Norway, whose flag flies at the western end of their compound. Between this building and the French consulate is the three-story pedimented Shanghai Club (1864). To the right of the customs house is the headquarters of Dent & Co. (dissolved in 1865) who were agents for the Portuguese, so flew their flag. To the right of Dent & Co. is the flag of the P. & O. Steam Navigation Company and the tower Trinity Church, formerly the Episcopal Church first built in 1847. Further right is the square building of the American firm of Augustine Heard and Co. which ran the steamer business on the south coast of China until 1875. The Russian eagle flew from their flagstaff as they were agents for Russia. Further to the right are the premises of Jardine, Matheson & Co. the most important British firm active in China. At the far right is the Wills Bridge (completed in October 1856) crossing Soochow Creek, while at the far left is the Yangjingbang Bridge, built in 1856. As with other port views, the interest in Western and Chinese ships and river craft is evident, with the varieties of sailing vessels, steam vessels, sampans, tanka boats, junks, and anchored ships of the United States, Britain and France, including a cutter (a single-masted sailing rig with two headsails), and the covered ('hulked') Indiaman used as an opium receiving ship. The western ships in the various views of the Bund and river change from painting to painting, as the accuracy of which ships were in port at any given point was undoubtedly of great interest to the commissioning Westerner. However, the type and location of local Chinese craft tend to be repeated with minor variation.
These paintings depict Shanghai at a fascinating point in the city's history. In 1843, just decades before these pictures were painted, Shanghai was established as a Western Treaty port, opening to international trade and providing direct access to the fertile Jiangnan region to foreign ships. The land to the north of the old Chinese city was quickly developed, first by the British in 1845, then the American in 1848 and the French in 1849. By 1860 the foreign concessions lined the river front with houses, bank and consulates, of which only the British consulate survives. Shanghai blossomed and eclipsed Guangzhou as the center for China's export trade.
Finely detailed panoramic views of the Bund were a specialty of Chow Qua, the unrivaled master of views of Shanghai. Little is known of the artist other than his name was Su Zhaocheng and his studio was first on Park Lane and later Hankow Road. His signature or label appears on other versions of paintings which illustrate the embanked quayside. Chinese artists began creating with Western media such as oil paints and gouaches as early as 1750, and shortly thereafter numerous studios emerged in Guangzhou to cater to European and American tastes, who sought to return home with topographical depictions of China. In addition to adopting the Western media of oil on canvas, the low horizon and painted sky are also concessions to European aesthetics. However, the head-on view and horizontal format are reminiscent of a traditional Chinese topographic handscroll.
The majority surviving compositions from this genre of painting illustrate Hong Kong, Guangdong and the Pearl River Delta. Images of Shanghai are rare. Although stylistically linked to Guangzhou school artists, images of Shanghai and its environs are frequently linked to Chow Qua (active 1855-1867) a Shanghai-based painter who had a studio on Hankow Road, running perpendicular to the Shanghai Bund. A similar Bund depiction, bearing a rarely displayed signature of Chow Qua was offered at Christies as lot 11, on 28 October 2015. The numerous similarities with the Christies' example indicate these two lots were also likely produced by the Chow Qua studio.
For more on Chow Qua and images of the Bund, see E. Politzer, 'The Changing Face of the Shanghai Bund Circa 1849-1879', Arts of Asia, vol.35, no.2, March-April 2005, p.70); and also, Christian Henriot, 'The Shanghai Bund in myth and history: an essay through textural and visual sources, Journal of Modern Chinese History, 2010.
Related works: Another example of the same size, with the artist's label, 'CHOW KWA,' printed in Chinese and Western script attached to the stretcher in Martyn Gregory, From China to the West, catalogue 74, 1999, no. 108, p. 88-89; another of same size with some of the same Chinese vessels in the foreground is in the Sze Yuan Tang Collection of China Coast Paintings, in Patrick Conner, Chinese Views – Western Perspectives 1770-1870, Asia House, London, 1996, no. 17, p. 29; another with the same proportions but slightly smaller (20.5 x 38.2in), with the same six Chinese river craft in the foreground and attributed to Chow Qua, offered by Martyn Gregory, Trade Routes to the East, catalogue 72, 1998, no. 114, p. 74; related views by Chow Qua in Martyn Gregory, catalogue 56, no. 121 and catalogue 66, no. 99; a view with the same Chinese vessels in the foreground, Brunk Auctions, Asheville, NC, January 8, 2011, lot 287.
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