Anon., Chinese Herbarium Pressed Wildflowers from the Grand Canal – 1859

Anon. Chinese Herbarium Pressed Wildflowers from the Grand Canal

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View the full Collection: Chinese Watercolours Pith Paintings & Herbarium: Minnie Wright 1858

An original 1859 mixed media – Chinese Herbarium Pressed Wildflowers from the Grand Canal.

This unusual sheet of plant specimens were collected in China in the mid-19th century and preserved in an album belonging to a Minnie Wight of Newhaven. Little is known about Minnie Wright, but she was evidently English and her address is 'Newhaven' in 1858. Annotations accompanying the collection indicate that her grandson was called Philip Orford.

Her herbarium specimens date from between 1859 and 1862 and were collected at locations around the 'Great Canal' and Hangzhou, the southern terminus of the Grand Canal. There are also two specimens collected at 'Hogg Farm, England' in 1863.

Whilst extant plant samples from China during this period exist as part of collections compiled by travelling botanists, these rare examples were apparently collected by or for a young female, for whom the collecting of dried plants was a pastime and method of learning. She was likely connected to the British community living in China around the main trade ports of the Yangtze Delta after the 1842 Treaty of Nanking.

On watermarked laid paper with blindstamp upper centre.

Chinese Watercolours Pith Paintings & Herbarium: Minnie Wright 1858

This painting forms part of a beautiful collection of Chinese works that were preserved in a mid-19th-century album belonging to a Minnie Wright of Newhaven. Little is known about Minnie Wright, but she was evidently English and her address is 'Newhaven' in 1858. Annotations accompanying the collection indicate that her grandson was called Philip Orford.

She was likely connected to the British community living in China around the main trade ports of the Yangtze Delta after the 1842 Treaty of Nanking. As well as beautiful examples of Chinese paintings on pith and floral watercolours, the collection includes a watercolour of a Chinese schoolmaster, inscribed 'Morton sends to Minnie', and there are a number of herbarium specimens collected at locations around the 'Great Canal' and Hangzhou, the southern terminus of the Grand Canal, between 1859 and 1862. There are also two specimens collected at 'Hogg Farm, England' in 1863. As a whole, the collection is a fascinating record of the history, activities and socio-cultural exchanges taking place between China and the West in the 19th century.