Lot 249: James Moffat (1775-1815)

View of Canton.; View of Whampoa and Bankshall, China.; and View of Bocca=Tegree, China.
aquatints, published Calcutta, July 1802
P.14 3/4 x 20 1/8in. (37.4 x 51.1cm.)
(3) (3)

Christie's Swire, Hong Kong, 30 Sept. 1992, lot 1960.

Moffat, a Scotsman resident in Calcutta 1789-1815, is known primarily for his drawings and engravings (printed and published in Calcutta) of views on the Ganges and Hooghly. For his Indian drawings and sets of views see M.Archer, British Drawings in the India Office Library, London, 1969, II, pp.621-23 and J.P.Losty, Calcutta, City of Palaces, London, 1990, pp.78-9. This rare set of early Chinese views depicts the forts at Bocca Tigris on the Pearl River, where ships were required to stop at the customs house (bankshall derives from the Dutch word meaning 'a place of customs toll collection'), Whampoa, where ships were required to anchor before captains and supercargoes took cutters upriver to Canton, and the hongs on the waterfront at Canton.

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