Period:Unknown Production date:1793-1796
Materials:paper
Technique:drawn
Subjects:official chinese costume
Dimensions:Height: 443 millimetres (album cover) Height: 259 millimetres (sheet) Width: 212 millimetres Width: 334 millimetres
Description:
Portrait of Wang Wenxiong (王文雄), a military Mandarin appointed to attend the Embassy; oval, half-length, in front of a fortified building or wall, with a long string of beads around his neck and a peacock feather in his hat; from an album of 82 drawings of China. 1796 Watercolour, ink and graphite
IMG
![图片[1]-drawing; album; print study BM-1865-0520.197-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Unknown/43/mid_01428418_001.jpg)
Comments:There is a list of descriptions of the subjects inserted in the front of the album. This drawing is described as: “5 Portrait of Van-tazhin (a military Mandarin) who in conjunction with Chou-tazhin, had the charge of the Embassy – during its residence in China.”The first plate in “The Costume of China” (published 1805; etched lettering below the image: “W Alexander fecit / London Publish’d July 20 1797, by G. Nicol, Pall mall”) shows a full-length portrait of Van-Ta-Zhin (acquatint). Alexander’s accompanying text informs the reader that the peacock feather in Van-Ta-Zhin’s cap was “an extraordinary mark of favour from his sovereign […] for services performed in the wars of Thibet.” See correction to title below.Additionally, the frontispiece of Comptroller of the Embassy Sir John Barrow’s account of the endeavour, titled “Travels in China” and published in 1804, is a portrait of Van-Ta-Zhin by Thomas Hickey, the first painter of the Embassy. The portrait by Hickey is of the same format as that by Alexander in this album and depicts the subject in the same costume, although there are minor variations in the sitter’s physiognomy and the setting. There are also five further known versions of this watercolour: two oval head-and-shoulders portraits, India Office Library collection, BL (one signed and dated ‘1793’ on the mount); two more ovals in the Barrow collection of manuscripts, BL (one with the artist’s monogram); an oval (signed and inscribed with the title and date of 1793 on the reverse of the original mount) was, in 1980, at The Leger Galleries, London. (Legouix, 1980, p. 46.)For further contextual information about mandarins, see 1865,0520.200.For further information about the album, see comment for 1865,0520.193.As pointed out by Professor Henrietta Harrison (email 7 October 2013) this is a portrait of Wang Wenxiong a military officer who attended the embassy. Ta-Zhin, now written daren, is a title that means, roughly, sir.
Materials:paper
Technique:drawn
Subjects:official chinese costume
Dimensions:Height: 443 millimetres (album cover) Height: 259 millimetres (sheet) Width: 212 millimetres Width: 334 millimetres
Description:
Portrait of Wang Wenxiong (王文雄), a military Mandarin appointed to attend the Embassy; oval, half-length, in front of a fortified building or wall, with a long string of beads around his neck and a peacock feather in his hat; from an album of 82 drawings of China. 1796 Watercolour, ink and graphite
IMG
Comments:There is a list of descriptions of the subjects inserted in the front of the album. This drawing is described as: “5 Portrait of Van-tazhin (a military Mandarin) who in conjunction with Chou-tazhin, had the charge of the Embassy – during its residence in China.”The first plate in “The Costume of China” (published 1805; etched lettering below the image: “W Alexander fecit / London Publish’d July 20 1797, by G. Nicol, Pall mall”) shows a full-length portrait of Van-Ta-Zhin (acquatint). Alexander’s accompanying text informs the reader that the peacock feather in Van-Ta-Zhin’s cap was “an extraordinary mark of favour from his sovereign […] for services performed in the wars of Thibet.” See correction to title below.Additionally, the frontispiece of Comptroller of the Embassy Sir John Barrow’s account of the endeavour, titled “Travels in China” and published in 1804, is a portrait of Van-Ta-Zhin by Thomas Hickey, the first painter of the Embassy. The portrait by Hickey is of the same format as that by Alexander in this album and depicts the subject in the same costume, although there are minor variations in the sitter’s physiognomy and the setting. There are also five further known versions of this watercolour: two oval head-and-shoulders portraits, India Office Library collection, BL (one signed and dated ‘1793’ on the mount); two more ovals in the Barrow collection of manuscripts, BL (one with the artist’s monogram); an oval (signed and inscribed with the title and date of 1793 on the reverse of the original mount) was, in 1980, at The Leger Galleries, London. (Legouix, 1980, p. 46.)For further contextual information about mandarins, see 1865,0520.200.For further information about the album, see comment for 1865,0520.193.As pointed out by Professor Henrietta Harrison (email 7 October 2013) this is a portrait of Wang Wenxiong a military officer who attended the embassy. Ta-Zhin, now written daren, is a title that means, roughly, sir.
© Copyright
The copyright of the article belongs to the author, please keep the original link for reprinting.
THE END
