A CHINESE SHCOOL PAINTING OF THE BUND AT SHANGHAI QING DYNASTY, CIRCA 1865 | A large framed picture with a view of the Bund at Shanghai

gouache on paper, finely painted expansive view of Shanghai from the French Settlement to the Suzhou Creek seen across the Huangpu River, the calm waters bustling with large Western ships amidst junks and small boats, the shore dotted with distinctive landmarks including the French and British Consulates, framed

With Hare and Coolidge Ogunquit, 1948.
Acquired from Martyn Gregory, London, 2002.

Unexamined out of its frame this work is in general good condition with the exception of creasing of paper and rubbing of paint in some areas.
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On 17th November 1843, the city of Shanghai was formally opened to the British trade with ratification of the Treaty of Nanking.  The British Settlement was set up on the shore of the Huangpu River, on the Bund south of Suzhou Creek. In the following year the United States and France signed similar treaties and other nations soon followed.  By the time this painting was painted the Bund was already fully developed, much as it was to appear throughout the third quarter of the 19th century.  Shanghai soon became the most important trading port of the newly opened ports and the most westernized.  The French Settlement can be seen to the left, marked by the tricolour French consulate at the extreme left, while the British consulate, built in 1849 and destroyed in 1870, resides on the right by the wooden bridge. The red walled Chinese-style Customs House is to the left of centre, next to buildings of Dent & Co., Jardine Matheson & Co, Augustine Heard & Co., and Russell & Co.

Compare this painting with one attributed to Chow Kwa, illustrated in Carl Crossman, The China Trade, Suffolk, UK, 1991, p. 419, fig. 23.  Another painting of the Bund by Sunqua at a slightly earlier date is also illustrated in ibid fig. 22.