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Spoilum Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1770 - d. 1810

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  • Spoilum (Guan Zuolin) (fl. 1774-1805)- Rare China Trade Portrait of an East India Company Sea Captain
    Mar. 05, 2025

    Spoilum (Guan Zuolin) (fl. 1774-1805)- Rare China Trade Portrait of an East India Company Sea Captain

    Est: $10,000 - $20,000

    Spoilum (Guan Zuolin) (fl. 1774-1805), Canton, ca. 1790. Rare China Trade Portrait of an East India Company Sea Captain.  A classic portrait by Spoilum, who is considered the most significant Chinese portrait artist of the latter years of the 18th century, known for his portraits of American and British ship captains in Canton. The characteristic bust-length oval format, shows the captain in his blue jacket with gold buttons; with a lighter background to the left side of the sitter’s face. Oil and gold pigment on canvas. Original stretchers and Chinese gilt-carved frame. H 17-1/4 in. W 13-3/4 in. Provenance: with Martyn Gregory, London. Published: Martyn Gregory Catalogue, London, 1999.  Literature; C.L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade, 1991, pps. 35-53. Crossman illustrates several closely related portraits, especially the portrait of a member of the East India Company, Plate 10, page 45. Condition: Minor imperfections. Link to Hi-Res Images: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/7uopst9wv4l5kp7dad0q9/AMv0d-Z8CJ6coebpVlmO3mo?rlkey=vu2o5fmqfnw4523rdm1ukgw1r&st=5mmu911b&dl=0

    New England Auctions
  • Spoilum (attrib.), oil on canvas
    Nov. 17, 2022

    Spoilum (attrib.), oil on canvas

    Est: $5,000 - $7,000

    Attributed to Spoilum (Guan Zuolin), (Chinese, active 1765-1805), Portrait of an Officer of the East India Company, unsigned, gallery label verso, 17.25"h x 13.75"w (canvas), 19"h x 15"w (frame)

    Millea Bros Ltd
  • Spoilum (fl.c.1774-c.1805) Portrait of George Wilson, East India Comp
    Nov. 05, 2020

    Spoilum (fl.c.1774-c.1805) Portrait of George Wilson, East India Comp

    Est: £20,000 - £30,000

    Spoilum (fl.c.1774-c.1805) Portrait of George Wilson, East India Company, bust length with inscription 'George Wilson / Grandfather's Uncle / Doctor in E. India Coy. / retired to Estate at / Gullen Lodge, Yorks. / (Brought up my Grand - / father' on an old label attached to the backing paper oil on canvas oval 17 1/2 x 14 3/4 in. (44.4 x 37.4cm.) in the artist's original frame ,

    Christie's
  • Spoilum (Guan Zuolin) (Chinese/Guangzhou, active 1770-1810), "Portrait of a Captain of the British East Indies Company"
    Jul. 28, 2018

    Spoilum (Guan Zuolin) (Chinese/Guangzhou, active 1770-1810), "Portrait of a Captain of the British East Indies Company"

    Est: $5,000 - $8,000

    Spoilum (Guan Zuolin) (Chinese/Guangzhou, active 1770-1810) "Portrait of a Captain of the British East Indies Company" oil on canvas unsigned, a "Vose Galleries/Boston, Massachusetts" label en verso. Framed. 17-1/2" x 14", framed 23-1/2" x 20-1/4" Provenance: Estate of Dr. Carroll Ball, Jackson, Mississippi. Notes: The Cantonese artist Guan Zuolin, colloquially known as Spoilum, was one of the first Chinese artists to work in oil on canvas as opposed to the more usual inks and colors on paper or silk. A resident of the busy port city of Guangzhou, the only Chinese city to allow trade between Chinese and Westerners, Spoilum taught himself Western art techniques by copying British paintings and prints. He specialized in portraits of British and American naval officers and prosperous local merchants, though he was also known to produce the souvenir landscapes popular with the Western visitors to the city. His portraits, as evidenced by the one of an unidentified officer presented here, are almost always in ¾ length, against a vague background, the sitter gazing directly at the viewer, rendered in a minimal palette of black and flesh-tones with little interplay of light and shadow - all of which serve to emphasize the features of the sitter. Works by Spoilum are conserved in numerous maritime museums including the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

    New Orleans Auction Galleries
  • GUAN ZUOLIN KNOWN AS SPOILUM (ACTIVE 1770-1805) | HONG MERCHANT
    Jan. 20, 2016

    GUAN ZUOLIN KNOWN AS SPOILUM (ACTIVE 1770-1805) | HONG MERCHANT

    Est: $40,000 - $60,000

    oil on canvas

    Sotheby's
  • SPOILUM (CHINESE, ACT. 1765-1805). PORTRAIT
    Aug. 16, 2009

    SPOILUM (CHINESE, ACT. 1765-1805). PORTRAIT

    Est: $5,000 - $10,000

    SPOILUM (CHINESE, ACT. 1765-1805). PORTRAIT MINIATURE OF CAPTAIN THOMAS MORTIMER OF THE HONORABLE EAST INDIA COMPANY, CIRCA 1800. Mortimer (1771-1824) was captain of the East Indiaman "Monarch" sailing to Madras and St. Helena in 1801-02 and the "General Stuart" off the coast of Madiera in 1803-04. He is buried at St. Mary's Church, Eastbourne, East Sussex. The sitter with remnants of gilding on his coat buttons. Watercolor on ivory, 3 1/2x 2 3/4inches, sight. In an English frame with oval brass bezel, japanned mat, and gilt composition frame. The reverse inscribed "Captain Thomas Mortimer/ H.E.I.C.N./ Taken in China 1800." Literature: Chinese export porcelain with the arms of Mortimer, are illustrarted and discussed in David Sanctuary Howard, "Chinese Armorial Porcelain, Vol. II, pp. 477, 514, T3 and U2.

    Bourgeault-Horan Antiquarians
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