Description:
Chinese gouache and watercolor image with an octagonal view depicting Macao's Praya Grande harbor from the north looking south. Established on a peninsula, Macao possessed 2 harbors: an inner one on the West River, and an outer harbor facing the Pearl River. This view includes Peñha Hill on the far left, the Basilica at right of center, and the Monte and Guia Forts on the far right. This image was probably originally part of an album of images that had been cut apart. The image could have been created either in the Studio of Tingqua or the Studio of Lamqua. The Studio of Tingqua (Guan Lianchang, b.1809, working 1840-1870) created images of Chinese port cities to bring back home as souvenirs of Asian adventures. Often a view of Macao was combined with similar waterfront images of Canton, Hong Kong, and Whampoa Anchorage, and later in the 19th century, Shanghai. A similarly decorated album of eighty leaves labeled by Lamqua sold at Christies, 27 January 2014, lot 395. Although Lamqua's younger brother Tinqua, was the family specialist in China trade albums, Patrick Connor explains that each studio worked in all media, quoting a vistor who wrote on 28 September 1833 of paying Lamqua $8 for "1 book of 12 paintings" and adding "no doubt ...a series of gouaches on paper in a silk brocade binding." See Arts of Asia, March - April 1999, p. 57. Painted above and below the landscape are the outlines of two gourds. The top has antiquarian objects associated with scholars: a jade bi (emblem of nobility and spirit guide to heaven) on a stand, a jade cup imitating an early bronze form, and an unidentifiable object on the left; the bottom has archery implements with either a screen or a target. Martial arts and archery were prerequisites to rulership. The inscription on the backing paper reads: "Originally in 'Tack House' Deerfield, Mass. Hung in Living Room with 7 others. Hong Kong Harbor Hong Painting. (watercolor) gift of Mr. Robt. Scott Harris (who purchased it at Tack Auction circa 1956.)" Born in Pittsburgh, Augustus Vincent Tack (1870-1949) moved to New York, eventually enrolling in the Art Students League from 1890 to 1895. A painter of portraits, murals, and abstracts, he and his wife Agnes Gordon Fuller (1873-1959) divided their time between Deerfield, Mass., and New York City, where Tack maintained a winter studio. Like many artists of his generation, Tack was drawn to images of Asian exotica as a source of artistic inspiration. He also collected Cantonese pith paper watercolors, one example of which is in the collection of the Memorial Hall Museum, Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield (2000.4.8). 6/4/07: Frame requires repair.
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