China, SILVER ISLAND Yangtse River JIAO SHAN BUDDHIST ~ 1842 Art Print Engraving

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Seller: lineart ✉️ (23,165) 99.6%, Location: New Providence, New Jersey, US, Ships to: WORLDWIDE, Item: 312827823809 China, SILVER ISLAND Yangtse River JIAO SHAN BUDDHIST ~ 1842 Art Print Engraving.

YIN-SHAN, OR SILVER ISLAND, ON THE YANGTSE-KEANG

Artist: Thomas Allom ____________ Engraver: W. H. Capone

Note: the title in the table above is printed below the engraving

AN ANTIQUE STEEL ENGRAVING MADE IN THE EARLY 1840s !! ITEM IS OVER 150 YEARS OLD!

VERY OLD WORLD! INCREDIBLE DETAIL!

FROM THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: Within view of the Golden Island, and on the bright bosom of that wide expanse oi waters westward of Chin-keang-foo, the Yin-shan, or Silver Island, rises with mud beauty and grandeur, from the surface; less lofty and precipitous, less adorned als( with pagodas and palaces, than its more favoured rival, Silver Island is nevertheless possessed of features both pleasing and picturesque. The richest foliage clothes it{ sides and summit; cottages and villas peep forth from the dense masses of dee: verdure that conceal its form, and, from the great depth of water close to shore, the scene is uniformly enriched by the accompaniment of large barges and trading-j links anchor all around, their forms being distinctly relieved upon the verdant surface behind them. The fleet of Queen Victoria having anchored close to these isles of beauty, and a strong detachment having been landed at Ching-keang-foo, Chinese infatuation was from that moment dissipated. The stranger had found a highway to the best cities in the bosom of the empire; and social intercourse with foreigners had always been considered by Chinese rulers, as an experiment too dangerous to be tried. No sooner, therefore: had an easy victory crowned with success the British arms, than the government prudently resolved upon submitting to whatever conditions the conquerors thought it expedient to propose. The capture of the Golden and Silver Islands, the occupation of the wide expanse of waters that encircle them, by a British force, decided the contest between England and the Chinese empire.

It is about six hundred years ago, since a Temple to Fo was erected here, and a Hall of Learning attached to it ; and so great was its sanctity at that period, or shortly after, that the praise of its priests, and the natural beauties of their rocky domain, became the theme of Lew-yan's most celebrated songs. This prince and poet first employs the more ancient name Keen-too-shan, or hill of solid earth, in his poems, but subsequently, in speaking of the comparative beauties of the sister isles, introduces the epithets Yin-shan and Kin-shan. An enthusiast who once dwelt here, in the temple founded under the Yuan dynasty, pretended to powers never committed to the control of erring mortality. He professed to render the persons of his consulters proof against the point of the dagger-the flame of the fire-the strain of the rack. This avocation was successful in filling his treasury; the victims of his imposture, probably, being unwilling to acknowledge how completely they had been duped. But, just when he imagined his throne to be established, the emperor, who had been informed, of his guilt, put him to death by that cruel process called "Ling-chy," or cutting into ten thousand pieces.

 

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Thomas Allom (1804-1872) 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 inches by 7 1/2 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!

  • Original/Reproduction: Original Print
  • Print Type: Engraving
  • Date of Creation: 1800-1899
  • Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
  • Material: Engraving
  • Type: Print

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