Portraits of Commissioners Qiying and Lin Zexu

Details

Tingqua (1809-1870)
Portraits of Commissioners Qiying and Lin Zexu
bodycolour and gold paint on paper
each 11 1/8 x 9 1/8in. (28.3 x 23.2cm.)
(2)

Provenance

Anon. sale, Christie's, New York, 29 Jan. 1986, lot 24.

Exhibited

Hong Kong, Hong Kong Maritime Museum, The Dragon and the Eagle: American Traders in China, A Century of Trade from 1784 to 1900, Dec. 2019-April 2019, 2.78.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU for sale using a Temporary Import regime. Import VAT is payable (at 5%) on the Hammer price. VAT is also payable (at 20%) on the buyer’s Premium on a VAT inclusive basis. When a buyer of such a lot has registered an EU address but wishes to export the lot or complete the import into another EU country, he must advise Christie's immediately after the auction.

Brought to you by

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Lot Essay

Two fine portraits from Tingqua's studio of the Imperial Commissioners at Canton, both sitters frequently portrayed in the years of crisis ahead of the First Opium War. They are portrayed here in their official dress, wearing their rich blue silk fur-lined winter outer coats with badges of rank, over their dragon robes, and both fingering their apple-green jade and amber necklaces. Their hats denote third rank. Both watercolours are taken from a Tingqua album from which other leaves (in the same Christie's New York sale in 1986) date the production to c.1847.

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