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Painted clay figure of a European merchant by Amoy Chinqua
Signed and dated 1719
Height of figure: 29.5 cm | 11 5/8 in
Figure with stand: 33 cm | 13 in
Click image for full-size version
It is likely that this is a portrait of a merchant employed by the East India Company. Beneath an elaborately detailed campaign wig, with knotted ends (suitable for active rather than formal wear), his painted clay face is finely sculpted – with great realism. Although we cannot be certain who is represented, the figure bears some striking resemblance to a painting in the National Maritime Museum (1711, by P. Trampon), of Robert Knox (1641 – 1720), sea-captain, merchant and writer (his autobiographical writings lending inspiration to Daniel Defoe’s ‘Robinson Crusoe’, published in 1719).
Our figure was crafted by Chinqua (or Qinqua) – an artist from Amoy (it is for this reason that he was known as ‘Amoy Chinqua’) who worked in Canton. It was there that he would have encountered East India Company merchants – since, in 1711, the Company established a trading post in Canton (Guangzhou), to trade tea for silver. He may also have travelled by sea with the merchants, although this is not documented – only surmised. Two other of his signed and dated clay figures are known to exist, in museum collections (as detailed below). Chinqua’s figures are amongst the earliest known Chinese three-dimensional portraits in clay of Westerners.
This immaculately dressed gentleman is modelled standing upon a base – his right hand tucked into his waistcoat, and a black tricorn hat tucked under his left arm. He wears a superfine woollen coat (typically worn by 18th century English merchants), with its collar, cuffs, buttons and pockets detailed in gold-thread embroidery, to match a gilt trim on his hat; the coat’s lining is a bright turquoise blue. He is further attired with a white stock about his neck, and a linen shirt beneath a fashionable waistcoat; this is exquisitely painted with fine floral details – including clematis, dianthus and tulips. His legs are covered in grey stockings to above the knee, and on his feet black buckled shoes are detailed with white stitching. His costume is completed by the ivory and Malacca cane carried in his left hand. The overall modelling is sensitively executed, and impressively life-like – capturing the character in such a way as to make us curious about the rapport between Chinese artist and overseas merchant. The spreading square base is painted to imitate marble, and inscribed ‘AMOY CHINQUA FECIT 1719’.
Similar examples: A dated (1717) painted clay figure of an unidentified European (probably a merchant) signed Amoy Chinqua – in the collection of the Peabody Museum of Salem – and illustrated in The Decorative Arts of The China Trade by Carl L. Crossman, published by Antique Collectors’ Club, 1991 – plate 182. Another painted clay figure by Chinqua is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London – dated to 1716 and known to depict Joseph Collett (1673 – 1725), of the East India Company, and Governor of Fort St. George, Madras from 1717 until his death.
A third clay figure of a Westerner, circa 1715 – 1720 (but unsigned and, therefore, not attributed to Chinqua with certainty) is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
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