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Before the introduction of the camera effectively
put them out of business, Chinese artists in the 18th
and 19th Centuries painted views of Canton. Shanghai,
Hong Kong and various other places and sold them to
the Western merchants and sailors who then took them
back mainly to Britain and America to show the folks
back home where they had been for the past one or
two years. They also painted portraits of the trading
vessells as well as their Captains. The quality of
the paintings varied. Some were quite primitive whereas
others were very professional topographically correct
views of the Ports and of the vessells that traded
to them.
Until relatively recently the main buyers of these
"China Trade" paintings were mostly British
and American. However, now, we are seeing a growing
interest from Mainland China collectors who are starting
to disregard the fact that the pictures were originally
painted for the Western market and are now accepting
that very often, the images are an important part
of China's recent history.
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