1828
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Junks and Tanka boats by a river fort, Canton (Guangzhou) is a 1828 by George Chinnery, a Romanticism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This drawing shows a busy riverside scene in Canton. George Chinnery sketched it between 1825 and 1832 using pen and ink. You might miss it at first, but the river fort is the real star here. Locals called it Haizhu Fort. Western traders knew it as the Dutch Folly Fort. It sat near their trading posts. If you like this style, look up the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The drawing depicts junks and Tanka boats near the river fort in Canton, known to the Chinese as Haizhu Fort and to Westerners as the Dutch Folly Fort. The fort, located downstream from the Western trading posts called 'Hongs,' contained banyan trees and a temple dedicated to a Song dynasty official. Created between 1825 and 1832 during Chinnery's visits to Canton, the work is rendered in pencil, pen, and ink. The drawing is part of an album of Chinnery's works acquired by the museum in 1921 from P & D Colnaghi.
Read the full account in the museum source.
George Chinnery (Chinese: 錢納利; 5 January 1774 – 30 May 1852) was an English painter who spent most of his life in Asia, especially India and southern China.
See the richer artist page
