William Alexander Ruins on the Eu Ho River, China

An original 18th-century graphite drawing, William Alexander, Ruins on the Eu Ho River, China.

This fantastic small drawing is by the English painter, illustrator and engraver William Alexander (1767–1816). Alexander accompanied the Macartney Embassy to China in 1792 and was the only English artist of the late 18th-century to penetrate the interior of China. This drawing shows the ruins of a stone tower, likely some sort of fortification, and is inscribed on the verso by the artist: 'Ruins on the Eu Ho River'.

The Eu Ho River, also known as the Wei Ho, is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. Historically, the Wei River valley was the earliest centre of Chinese civilization and until the 10th century AD was the site of a succession of capital cities. The Grand Canal—the longest canal or artificial river in the world, which played a huge role in reunifying north and south China and in commercial trade and cultural transmission within the empire—flowed into the Eu Ho river and linked it to the Hoang Ho river.

In the late 18th century, China and Britain were worlds apart. In 1792, George III instructed the first British diplomatic mission to China, headed by Earl Macartney of Lissanore, in an attempt to negotiate a preferential treaty of commerce and friendship with the Qianlong Emperor. William Alexander was one of two illustrators (the other being Thomas Hickey) brought along on the mission, tasked with documenting the new sights encountered. Alexander's drawings were reproduced as plates in Sir George Leonard Staunton's 'Authentic Account of Lord Macartney's Embassy' in 1797. He also produced 'Views of Headlands, Islands, etc. taken during the Voyage to China' (1798), plates for Sir John Barrow's 'Travels in China' (1804), and 'Voyage to Cochin China' (1806).

On his return, Alexander published a series of hand-coloured engravings depicting the Chinese Court as well as scenes of everyday life in China, titled 'The costume of China, illustrated in forty-eight coloured engravings' (1805). Whilst mostly of figures, the engravings also include buildings and monuments, such as a military post, castle tower, stone bridge, city gate and burial tomb. The work was so well-received that in 1814 he published another book titled 'Picturesque Representations of the Dress and Manners of the Chinese, illustrated in fifty colored engravings, with descriptions'.

The Macartney Embassy failed to achieve its official objectives, but it was later noted for the extensive cultural, political, and geographical observations its participants recorded in China and brought back to Europe. Whilst on the one hand the Embassy helped demystify British perceptions of the East, the orientalist observations of its members fed into the British imperialist imagination and taste for Chinoiserie. As Macartney wrote triumphantly in his journal: 'We are now masters of geography of the north east coast of China, and have now acquired a knowledge of the Yellow Sea which was never before navigated by European ships.'

Provenance: From the Collection of Dr E.M. Brett of Hampstead. William Drummond (Covent Garden Gallery, London).

On thin card. One of a two drawings by William Alexander that we have for sale (see JU-668).