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ENTRANCE INTO THE CITY OF AMOY
Artist: Thomas Allom ____________ Engraver: S. Fisher |
Note: the title in the table above is printed below the engraving
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AN ANTIQUE STEEL ENGRAVING MADE IN THE EARLY 1840s !! ITEM IS OVER 150 YEARS OLD!
VERY OLD WORLD! INCREDIBLE DETAIL!
FROM THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: The sterility of the coast and country, in this part of Fo-kien, obliging the inhabitants to have recourse to commerce for subsistence and employment, they very early and very wisely selected the port and the Isle of Amoy as a site for its asylum. Here is a vast natural basin, where a thousand vessels may ride in safety, sheltered, by an intervening island, from the prevalent winds, and in water deep enough to float the largest ships. The excellence of this land-locked harbour soon brought hither the shipping of Siam and Cochin-China, and the English had a factory here, until the narrow policy of the empire obliged them to remove to Canton; in fact, it was then the centre of Chinese maritime interests. Being now a free port, with a good harbour, and the inhabitants of necessity mariners, foreign trade revived more rapidly here than even at Ning-po, although the communication with the interior of China from the latter is so easy as to become a great auxiliary to expanding trade. Public buildings are numerous and spacious, but inelegant; few city embellishments are in progress, and enterprise and commercial spirit seem to have been completely checked by the prohibition against all foreign intercourse and the removal of the British factory.
The great gate of Amoy is rather massive than magnificent; the dragon constitutes the most prominent part of its sculptured ornaments; sentences from the ethics of Confucius, the most valuable. A boat-shaped finial that crowns the summit, supports two fish, emblems more rational and appropriate than the national symbol, because the deepwater fishery off this coast, in the channel of Formosa, is amazingly productive, and the whole population of Amoy may be deemed maritime. A garrison, cannon-foundry, and dock-yard, have been maintained here for many years; and, when our fleet appeared in the noble harbour of Emouy or Amoy, in 1841, they found the place strongly fortified, and defended by a considerable Tartar force.
On the 25th of August 1841, the second northern expedition against the Celestials appeared off Amoy, and was received by a few rounds from the battery of Que-rnoy, which the Modeste returned. On the following day, a mandarin, with a flag of truce, came from the city, to enquire the object of so formal a visit from so large a fleet, pretending to think that it must- have been " trade;" he concluded his nonsensical address, however, by ordering our admiral to leave the port without delay, as the only means of avoiding inevitable destruction: to this advice, Sir Henry Pottinger replied, that compassion alone would induce him to receive the immediate surrender of Amoy and its fortifications, and retain them until the conclusion of a treaty between the Queen of England and his Imperial Majesty. He consented also to the retirement of the Tartar officers and troops. The Tartars not unreasonably concluded that a stout resistance might be offered to our ships, from the great strength of their works and the number and calibre of their guns. One fort, twelve hundred yards in length, mounted ninety heavy guns; there were many detached batteries, and a second fort, on Red Point, mounting forty-two of the heaviest Chinese ordnance. On Ko-long-soo, the key to Amoy, were seventy-six pieces of artillery, and the embrasures were protected all along by sand-bags; another fort was constructed on Cansoo Island, raking the passage on that side, and Huan-tong-san, or the inner harbour, was guarded by several batteries commanding the front shore.
This apparently impregnable place was attacked with that deliberate gallantry which distinguishes the British navy; as if no opposition existed, danger seems never to be estimated by our officers, in calculating the mode of attacking an enemy. The Modeste, Blanche, Druid, with the rest of the fleet, stood in for the city, exchanging occasional shots with the batteries that lined the passage, but not deigning to anchor until they came within a few yards of the great fortifications of Ko-long-soo. After a few broadsides, the marines, under Captain Ellis, and a detachment of the 26th, led on by Major Johnston, effected a safe landing, and pouring some half-dozen volleys amongst the enemy, put the whole garrison to flight. The Modeste now ran into the inner harbour, where she silenced all the batteries, and captured twenty-six deserted war-junks, mounting altogether one hundred and twenty-eight guns. At the long battery, a brave but brief resistance was offered, by the Tartars, to the combined fire of five of our men of war, but a detachment of our men landing and falling on the enemy's rear, many were bayonetted at their guns ; this gallant manoeuvre completed the panic that had commenced amongst the enemy, and nothing was to be seen but mounted mandarins and " brave Tartars' flying up the country, pursued by our marines and seamen.
"The loss of the Chinese was very great, that of the British naval force amounted to one killed and seven wounded; the loss of our troops was very slight." The Chinese naval commander threw himself into the sea, and a great mandarin, who was closely pursued by our men, drew his sword and plunged it into his heart. No Sycee silver was found here, but bullion, to the value of twenty thousand dollars, was secured.
ABOUT THE ARTIST: Thomas Allom was a Topographical Illustrator and Architect. He was born in London, England and in 1819 he was apprenticed to the architect Francis Goodwin. He produced designs for buildings, churches, workhouses and a military asylum in London and carried them out himself as well as working with the architect Sir Charles Barry on numerous projects. He found time to produce an enormous number of views, and like his contemporary William Henry Bartlett, illustrated places rather than people or still life. Allom was a founder member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He died at the age of 68 in Barnes, London, England.
Though he traveled widely in the course of his work, Allom produced his drawings of China, probably his most successful series, by merely crossing the road from the house in Hart Street to the British Museum. It was obviously an economical solution for his publisher, who had managed to convince himself that 'Having dwelt in "the land of the cypress and myrtle", Mr. Allom's talents were fully matured for the faithful delineation of Oriental scenery. His designs were based entirely on the work of earlier artists who had traveled in China, and although he has been justifiably criticised for failure in some instances to acknowledge the original sketches, Allom displays considerable resourcefulness and ingenuity in the way he borrowed and gathered his material from them. Acknowledgement was made to three amateurs, eight of the plates to Lieutenant Frederick White R.M., fourteen to Captain Stoddart, R.N. and two to R. Varnham (who was the son of a tea planter and a pupil of George Chinnery (1774-1852). Nine designs are taken entirely or partially from Sketches of China and the Chinese (1842) by August Borget (1808-1877)," which had been published in England the previous year. He made neat pencil sketches from an album of Chinese landscapes water colours by anonymous Chinese artists that he then turned into fourteen designs. "Another group are based on a set of anonymous drawings that show the silk manufacturing process. Allom made particularly ingenious use of the drawings of William Alexander (1767-1818). Having first traced over a number of Alexander's watercolors in the British Museum (a practice which would certainly be frowned upon today) he used these tracings' either in part or combination in about twenty of his designs. But he never uses exactly the same scene as Alexander without altering the viewpoint or changing the details, his knowledge of perspective enabling him 'to walk round' a view of a building as in his Western Gates of Peking, which takes a viewpoint to the other side of the river. He uses background to Alexander's more peaceful seascape of 1794, The Forts of Anunghoi saluting the 'Lion' in the Bocca Tigris, and updates it to an event sketched by White during the First Opium War of 1841 when the Imogene and Andromache under Lord Napier forced a passage through the straits. Two of Alexander's drawings are sometimes combined - his Chinamen playing 'Shitticock' (sic) are placed by Allom in front of the Pagoda of Lin-ching-shih taken from another Alexander drawing.
The prints were a welcome addition to Fisher's series and became the best known source on the subject of China. Until the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 China had been almost totally inaccessible to the European traveller but the first Opium War had created a new sort of interest. The admiration of the 18th and early 19th centuries for Chinese culture and decoration was replaced by a more critical and inquiring attitude. Until photography gave a more accurate picture, a great many people's perception of China and the Chinese people was probably influenced by Allom's idealised images. An interesting use of these, on the ceramic pot lids produced by F. & R. Pratt and Co. throughout the second half of the 19th century, demonstrate how Allom's images, themselves derived from such a variety of sources, became in turn a design source for other ornamental applications. Because of their decorative appeal wide use is still made of reproductions of these illustrations.
SIZE: Image size is 5 1/2 inches by 7 inches. Print size is 7 inches by 10 inches.
CONDITION: Condition is excellent. Bright and clean. Blank on reverse.
SHIPPING: Buyers to pay shipping/handling, domestic orders receives priority mail, international orders receive regular mail.
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Please note: the terms used in our auctions for engraving, heliogravure, lithograph, print, plate, photogravure etc. are ALL prints on paper, NOT blocks of steel or wood. "ENGRAVINGS", the term commonly used for these paper prints, were the most common method in the 1700s and 1800s for illustrating old books, and these paper prints or "engravings" were inserted into the book with a tissue guard frontis, usually on much thicker quality rag stock paper, although many were also printed and issued as loose stand alone prints. So this auction is for an antique paper print(s), probably from an old book, of very high quality and usually on very thick rag stock paper.
EXTREMELY RARE IN THIS EXCELLENT CONDITION!
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