Nearly forgotten but glorious art, envisionings and historical oddments from the back corners of the internet
Out and about in 1814 China seen through a British eye. Imagery from William Alexander’s 1814 work “Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Chinese . . .”
The Fishing Cormorants. Hand-colored etchings with aquatint. China – Plate 3, image 20 from William Alexander’s Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Chinese. Illustrated in fifty coloured engravings, with descriptions. Published in London in January 1814. Printed for John Murray by W. Bulmer. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/representationsdres00alex/page/n19/mode/1upA mandarin. Hand-colored etchings with aquatint. China – Plate 5, image 28 from William Alexander’s Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Chinese. Illustrated in fifty coloured engravings, with descriptions. Published in London in January 1814. Printed for John Murray by W. Bulmer. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/representationsdres00alex/page/n27/mode/1upA juggler. Hand-colored etchings with aquatint. China – Plate 7, image 35 from William Alexander’s Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Chinese. Illustrated in fifty coloured engravings, with descriptions. Published in London in January 1814. Printed for John Murray by W. Bulmer. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/representationsdres00alex/page/n35/mode/1upA Lady and her Son. Hand-colored etchings with aquatint. China – Plate 10, image 48 from William Alexander’s Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Chinese. Illustrated in fifty coloured engravings, with descriptions. Published in London in January 1814. Printed for John Murray by W. Bulmer. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/representationsdres00alex/page/n47/mode/1upA Common Sedan Chair. Hand-colored etchings with aquatint. China – Plate XVII, image 77 from William Alexander’s Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Chinese. Illustrated in fifty coloured engravings, with descriptions. Published in London in January 1814. Printed for John Murray by W. Bulmer. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/representationsdres00alex/page/n76/mode/1upA Female Comedian. Hand-colored etchings with aquatint. China – Plate 30, image 127 from William Alexander’s Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Chinese. Illustrated in fifty coloured engravings, with descriptions. Published in London in January 1814. Printed for John Murray by W. Bulmer. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/representationsdres00alex/page/n127/mode/1upChildren Eating Their Meal. Hand-colored etchings with aquatint. China – Plate 40, image 167 from William Alexander’s Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Chinese. Illustrated in fifty coloured engravings, with descriptions. Published in London in January 1814. Printed for John Murray by W. Bulmer. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/representationsdres00alex/page/n167/mode/1upA Sedan Chair. Hand-colored etchings with aquatint. China – Plate 41, image 172 from William Alexander’s Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Chinese. Illustrated in fifty coloured engravings, with descriptions. Published in London in January 1814. Printed for John Murray by W. Bulmer. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/representationsdres00alex/page/n171/mode/1upWoman selling Chow-Chow. Hand-colored etchings with aquatint. China – Plate 49, image 204 from William Alexander’s Picturesque representations of the dress and manners of the Chinese. Illustrated in fifty coloured engravings, with descriptions. Published in London in January 1814. Printed for John Murray by W. Bulmer. Collections of the Getty Research Institute. In the public domain due to age. https://archive.org/details/representationsdres00alex/page/n203/mode/1up
William Alexander was born in Maidstone, Kent, in Southeast England, in 1767. He became a student at the Royal Academy in 1784. In 1792, at the age of just 25, he was given the opportunity of a lifetime: he was chosen to accompany Lord Macartney’s embassy to China as a junior draughtsman. For whatever reason the senior artist appears to have produced little or no work or else it has all been lost. Expeditions always sailed with artists who recorded what they saw.
These images are from the Internet Archive where I find many wonderful images and am by now familiar with their software, how to enlarge pictures, etc. But I found the book these are from on the website of rare book dealer Charles Agvent who was one of the vendors at the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair which I attended last weekend.
On a voyage to see how much mileage I can get from the creative ability and eye for images that my family thought was useless. On line art curator, fiction writer and now blogger. Historian's daughter. Follow me . . .even I have no idea where I'm going next.
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