Watercolour of Chefoo (Yantai) During the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)

, 1860. In good condition.. Watercolour, 230 x 380 mm, signed and dated ("Lindesay Brine fecit June 22 1860"); mounted.

An attractive and skillfully executed drawing heightened with watercolour. Two Chinese figures carrying baskets have been sketched in the foreground but have not been finished. A European ship and numerous ships either sail or ride at anchor off a promontory hill, probably Tengchow (now Penglai), one of the treaty ports opened for foreign trade following the 1858 Treaty of Tianjin.

Lindesay Brine, who entered the Royal Navy in 1847, was the author of "The Taeping Rebellion in China; a narrative of its rise and progress, based upon original documents and information obtained in China" (London: Murray, 1862). This watercolour was made on the spot during his service as commander in the China Seas. The painting is captioned in ink on the image: "HM Gunboat Opossum - Junk by Chefoo - The French Troops are Encamped on the Hill." "While serving in the Far East, [Brine] took much pains to collect accurate information on the troubles then prevailing, and in 1862 published the results of his observations and inquiries in a volume entitled 'The Taiping Rebellion in China'" (Obituary in The Geographical Journal 27,3 (March 1906).