Youqua (Chinese, active 1840-70)
The Great Wall of China
The Youqua stamped label is attached to the reverse of the stretcher.
oil on canvas, framed
31.8 x 72.4 cm
12 ½ x 28 ½ in
12 ½ x 28 ½ in
7135
Provenance
Martyn Gregory, LondonStandard Chartered Bank
Martyn Gregory, London
Exhibitions
Trade Winds to China, Martyn Gregory, London, May 1987, no.48Chinese Views, Western Perspectives 1770-1870: The Sze Yuan Tang collection of China coast paintings and the Wallem collection of China coast ship portraits, Asian House, 1997, no. 29
Jubilee Exhibition of China Trade Paintings, Martyn Gregory, London, 2002, no.111
Images of the East, Martyn Gregory, London, 2017-2018, p.94, no.96
Port views, ship portraits, garden scenes, and oil reproductions of Western paintings and engravings were all produced in Youqua's 'export' studio, which was one of the most well-known in Canton...
Port views, ship portraits, garden scenes, and oil reproductions of Western paintings and engravings were all produced in Youqua's 'export' studio, which was one of the most well-known in Canton at 34 Old China Street and then later Hong Kong at 107 Queen's Road. Drawings by Lt. John Bradley Michael Wood (d.1874) of the 31st Regiment of Foot are probably the source of this specific composition, particularly when one considers that Youqua's studio was a thousand miles south of the Great Wall. Wood drew scenes along the Great Wall in December 1861 and took part in action against the Taipings in Shanghai and in the Second Opium War in northern China.
For a similar scene bearing a Youqua label to the reverse, see Patrick Conner, Paintings of the China Trade: The Sze Yuan Tang Collection of Historic Paintings, Hong Kong, 2013, p.196.
Another version by Youqua after Wood's drawing, depicting the landscape at a different time of year, sold at Christie's, London, 29 October 2019, lot 84 (£30,000).
For a similar scene bearing a Youqua label to the reverse, see Patrick Conner, Paintings of the China Trade: The Sze Yuan Tang Collection of Historic Paintings, Hong Kong, 2013, p.196.
Another version by Youqua after Wood's drawing, depicting the landscape at a different time of year, sold at Christie's, London, 29 October 2019, lot 84 (£30,000).