1843 Allom Antique Print of a Cat Merchant in China

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Helpful Links: Company Details - About ME Payment & Shipping Options View seller's other items Cartographer's Profile Ask Seller a q uestion Return Policy About Classical Images We have over 2,000 items for sale on our Ebay stores site. Please the search engine to the left to search specifically for maps, prints, Atlases on the Classical Images Stores, thank you Chinese Cat Merchant This fine original antique print a view of Merchants Selling Cats for consumption in China was published in Thomas Allom's monumental publication "The Chinese Empire Illustrated: Being a series of Views from Original Sketches " published by the London Printing and Publishing Company in 1843. What makes these prints by Allom different - apart from his eye for detail - is the subject matter. Unlike many contemporary and earlier European artists Allom concentrated more on the common everyday life of the Chinese people. He did include images of Royalty and high status peoples but his most interesting images are of the street barbers, jugglers, shop keepers and many others that created one of the most comprehensive records of everyday life in China. The Chinese Empire Illustrated: W as a series of 4 Volumes published between 1843-47 containing up to 160 illustrations by Thomas Allom and descriptive text by G.H. Wright .In 1839, Britain and China engaged in what would later be called "The Opium War." Having underestimated the strength of the British forces, China was defeated with disastrous results in 1842. At war's end, the British set down the first of many "unequal treaties," similar to those the U.S. government was making with Native Americans on the other side of the globe. As a result, the Western world, and even the Chinese people themselves, suddenly viewed the Chinese Empire, under the Qing Dynasty, as much weaker than had previously been thought. The first of Allom's illustrations were published the following year, in 1843.In the 18th and early 19th centuries, the Western world was becoming quite intrigued by Chinese culture and decor, but notions of what China looked like were often vague and incomplete. Allom's illustrations, more than any other body of work up until that time, helped to provide a clearer picture of Imperial China, though certainly not a perfect one.A common criticism is that his images present a view of China that is too idealistic, and to be sure, the land does take on an almost dreamy, mystical aura in many of them. (As an interesting side note, to this day many so-called "Chinese" decorative styles and illustrations in the West seem influenced more by Allom's images than by bona fide sources of Chinese art.These faults aside, what Allom did was provide the West with a view of China as comprehensive as could be expected near the middle of the 19th century.The descriptions that G.H. Wright penned to accompany Allom's works in many cases provide very unflattering insights into mindset of Europeans visiting China in the 19th century. These narratives sometimes even seem at odds with the beautiful images they accompany. In Wright's narrations, the Chinese are often portrayed as a curious, inferior people with bizarre customs, not as the bearers of a rich culture with much to teach the rest of the world, as should have been the case. This historical trend is unfortunate and regrettable. Applying our critical eye again, however, we can look for some of Wright's more objective descriptions of life in China, overlooking his sometimes narrow, provincial interpretations, and enjoy a still deeper look at life in 19th Century China. Thomas Allom (1804-1872) was born in Lambeth, south London, the son of a coachman from Suffolk. In 1819, he was apprenticed to architect Francis Goodwin for whom he worked until 1826. He then studied at the Royal Acade... read more

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