China OPIUM WAR SOLDIERS BATTLE OF CHINKIANG ZHENJIANG, 1842 Art Print Engraving
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:14548585 | Date of Creation: 1800-1899 |
| Subject: History | Originality: Original |
| Original/Reproduction: Original Print | Medium: Engraving |
| Print Type: Engraving |
CAPTURE OF CHIN-KEANG-FOO Artist: Thomas Allom ____________ Engraver: Unknown Note: the title in the table above is printed below the engravingCLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ANTIQUE VIEWS OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE LIKE THIS ONE!! AN ANTIQUE STEEL ENGRAVING MADE IN THE EARLY 1840s !! ITEM IS OVER 150 YEARS OLD! VERY OLD WORLD! INCREDIBLE DETAIL! Chen-Chiang (Pinyin Zhenjiang , conventional Chin-kiang ) formerly (1912-18) is a Tant'u city and port in southern Kiangsu sheng (province), China, situate...d on the southern bank of the Yangtze River. It was capital of the province in 1928-49. In early 1841 British forces were sent to China to quell the mutinous Chinese in what later became known as the first China war or Opium War. The Battery was equipped with various guns, 12 pdr howitzers, 9 pdr guns and 5 1/2" mortars, all of which had to be dragged for miles across swamp and paddy fields by manpower alone. At the first major siege of the war at Canton, such was the preliminary bombardment by the Madras Artillery, that the town surrendered just before the main assault and the inhabitants were allowed to evacuate the town on the payment of a fine of 6 million dollars. The war dragged on with periodic excitements until the last engagement on 21st July 1842 when the fortified city of Chin - Kiang - Foo was stormed. The guns were dragged into action only 400 yards from the enemy. After bringing down effective artillery fire, the gunners joined the infantry storming the walls and driving the enemy back until all resistance ceased. The Chinese agreed to peace terms the following month and the Governor General of India published a special order of the day entitling the batteries of the Madras Artillery to wear the insignia of a Dragon with an imperial crown and the word China on all there appointments. FROM THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: Where the Imperial Canal enters the Yang-tse-kiang river on the south, and where a broad and beautiful nautical basin is formed by the river's sinuosities and expansions, a vast trade has been contracted, and large cities have grown up. In the centre of the river, at its widest part, stands the Golden Island, clothed to its tapering summit with the most luxuriant foliage; on the northern shore is seated the city of Quang-tchou, and, on the southern Ching-keang-foo. Ridge after ridge of rocky mountains stretches away from the borders of the bay into the remotest distance, producing a remarkable contrast of imagined retirement and sterility, with the smiling and animated picture which the river, here a league in breadth, presents to the eye. The surface is varied by the presence of vessels, differing in size, shape, and objects. Some sailing with, others against the current; many crossing from one adit of the canal to the opposite; and countless numbers lying at anchor. Ching-keang-foo being the key to the southern provinces, the out-port on which Nanking depends for its security against foreign aggression, was deemed of corresponding importance to the British troops in the subjugation of the Chinese empire. Being strongly protected by walls, thirty feet in height, and five in thickness, containing a large and active population, and being garrisoned by a body of resolute Tartars, its reduction was considered both the more necessary and more glorious to our army. Ascending the canal, and effecting a safe landing on both sides of the water, at the foot of a lofty and noble bridge of one arch, the British commenced a vigorous assault upon the west gate of the city. A much warmer reception than was anticipated, at first threw the assailants into some confusion, and the Blonde's boats, after a desperate resistance, were actually for a while in the enemy's hands. From this perilous position, however, they were soon released, by a party of marines and seamen belonging to the Cornwallis. This momentary discomfiture only lent new resolution to those who were its victims; and, under cover of a destructive fire from the opposite bank of the canal, Captain Richardson led up a scaling party to the walls. Rockets and heavy guns soon overthrew the gate-towers' and the gates themselves becoming a mass of flame, destroyed all prospect of future resistance. Submission, now was the sole remaining alternative for the Tartars, who bad fought with courage and devotion. Only four miles in circuit, Ching-keang-foo is but a minor city; indeed it is the fifth in magnitude in Kiang-nan: however, from its geographical position, it is always esteemed one of the first in commercial rank. The streets are narrow, paved with marble, and contain many well-supplied shops. ABOUT THE ARTIST: Thomas Allom (1804-1872) was a Topographical Illustrator and Architect. He was born in London, England and in 1819 he was apprenticed to the architect Francis Goodwin. He produced designs for buildings, churches, workhouses and a military asylum in London and carried them out himself as well as working with the architect Sir Charles Barry on numerous projects. He found time to produce an enormous number of views, and like his contemporary William Henry Bartlett, illustrated places rather than people or still life. Allom was a founder member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He died at the age of 68 in Barnes, London, England. Though he traveled widely in the course of his work, Allom produced his drawings of China, probably his most successful series, by merely crossing the road from the house in Hart Street to the British Museum. It was obviously an economical solution for his publisher, who had managed to convince himself that 'Having dwelt in "the land of the cypress and myrtle", Mr. Allom's talents were fully matured for the faithful delineation of Oriental scenery. His designs were based entirely on the work of earlier artists who had traveled in China, and although he has been justifiably criticised for failure in some instances to acknowledge the original sketches, Allom displays considerable resourcefulness and ingenuity in the way he borrowed and gathered his material from them. Acknowledgement was made to three amateurs, eight of the plates to Lieutenant Frederick White R.M., fourteen to Captain Stoddart, R.N. and two to R. Varnham (who was the son of a tea planter and a pupil of George Chinnery (1774-1852). Nine designs are taken entirely or partially from Sketches of China and the Chinese (1842) by August Borget (1808-1877), " which had been published in England the previous year. He made neat pencil sketches from an album of Chinese landscapes water colours by anonymous Chinese artists that he then turned into fourteen designs. "Another group are based on a set of anonymous drawings that show the silk manufacturing process. Allom made particularly ingenious use of the drawings of William Alexander (1767-1818). Having first traced over a number of Alexander's watercolors in the British Museum (a practice which would certainly be frowned upon today) he used these tracings' either in part or combination in about twenty of his designs. But he never uses exactly the same scene as Alexander without altering the viewpoint or changing the details, his knowledge of perspective enabling him 'to walk round' a view of a building as in his Western Gates of Peking, which takes a viewpoint to the other side of the river. He uses background to Alexander's more peaceful seascape of 1794, The Forts of Anunghoi saluting the 'Lion' in the Bocca Tigris, and updates it to an event sketched by White during the First Opium War of 1841 when the Imogene and Andromache under Lord Napier forced a passage through the straits. Two of Alexander's drawings are sometimes combined - his Chinamen playing 'Shitticock' (sic) are placed by Allom in front of the Pagoda of Lin-ching-shih taken from another Alexander drawing. The prints were a welcome addition to Fisher's series and became the best known source on the subject of China. Until the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 China had been almost totally inaccessible to the European traveller but the first Opium War had created a new sort of interest. The admiration of the 18th and early 19th centuries for Chinese culture and decoration was replaced by a more critical and inquiring attitude. Until photography gave a more accurate picture, a great many people's perception of China and the Chinese people was probably influenced by Allom's idealised images. An interesting use of these, on the ceramic pot lids produced by F. & R. Pratt and Co. throughout the second half of the 19th century, demonstrate how Allom's images, themselves derived from such a variety of sources, became in turn a design source for other ornamental applications. Because of their decorative appeal wide use is still made of reproductions of these illustrations. SIZE: Image size is 5 inches by 7 1/2 inches. Print size is 7 inches by 10 inches. CONDITION: Condition is excellent. Bright and clean. Blank on reverse. SHIPPING: Buyers to pay shipping/handling, domestic orders receives priority mail, international orders receive regular mail. We pack properly to protect your item! Please note: the terms used in our auctions for engraving, heliogravure, lithograph, print, plate, photogravure etc. are ALL prints on paper, NOT blocks of steel or wood. "ENGRAVINGS", the term commonly used for these paper prints, were the most common method in the 1700s and 1800s for illustrating old books, and these paper prints or "engravings" were inserted into the book with a tissue guard frontis, usually on much thicker quality rag stock paper, although many were also printed and issued as loose stand alone prints. So this auction is for an antique paper print(s), probably from an old book, of very high quality and usually on very thick rag stock paper. EXTREMELY RARE IN THIS EXCELLENT CONDITION!
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