Description:
Hand-colored engraving in blue, yellow, red, pink, white, black, and green titled "A View of the Foreign Factories at Canton on the River Ta", by "I. Dodge, del." and "Scoles, sc." John Scoles, an engraver working in New York from 1793-1844, engraved many of these views that appeared in "New York Magazine" from 1793-1796. The first American ship, "Empress of China," left New York for Canton in 1794 where the Americans entered the trading market with China already on-going with other European nations. According to the rules of trade, Westerners could not enter the city of Canton, but were confined to a 12-acre section in the western suburbs where the foreign factories housed the Western merchants while they remained in Canton. These small, narrow structures, located about 300 feet from the water, also functioned as places to conduct business. Stretching about 1,000 feet in length from east to west, these structures were mostly two or three stories high, and often connected to each other by arcades or arched passageways. Chinese shopkeepers occupied narrow streets between the factory buildings (named Old China Street, New China Street, and Hog Lane) selling lacquerware, furniture, silver, porcelains, and other novelty items designed to appeal to the merchants and sailors. This print depicts a strip of land with an assortment of Western-style buildings in the background. The courtyards in front of these buildings show seven flags, from left to right: Denmark, Spain, Austria, American (with 15 stars and 15 stripes used between 1795-1818), Sweden (incorrectly colored), Great Britain, and Holland. The pitched-roofed buildings are one or two stories, with the largest building in the center with its ten bays and rounded arched windows and doors. There are two chop boats and a scull-like boat flying a flag on the river.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+78.107 |
