Canton (Guangzhou): the Hongs (or 'Factories') (c. 1790 China)

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gouache

25.00inch wide    15.00inch high    (63.50 cm wide  38.10 cm high)

An unusual feature of this early ‘hong painting’, depicting the trading bases (‘Factories’ or ‘hongs’) occupied by foreign merchants, is that it includes a view of the city walls on the right, backed by White Cloud Mountain (now largely surrounded by urban development). The city itself is not visible, other than a few hilltop buildings in the north, one of which is the Zhenhai Tower - the present-day City Museum. In the foreground can be seen the tree-lined shore of Honam island, the location of a temple complex which was often visited by the foreign merchants who lodged across the river.

The national flags are (l. to r.) the Danish (with jetties and steps in front); the French (the white Bourbon flag, preceding the Revolution); the Swedish; the English (before the cross of St Patrick was added in 1801); and the Dutch. Between the French and Swedish is a flagstaff with no flag; similar views show the imperial (Austrian) flag, with its double-headed eagle, in this position. As the last ship to sail up the Pearl River under an Austrian flag was in 1787, this painting can be dated shortly after that. The Factory behind the flagstaff continued to be known as the ‘Imperial’ until the 1850s.