Description

JOSS-HOUSE, CHAPOO ~ Death of Col. Tomlinson Artist: Thomas Allom ____________ Engraver: T. A. Prior Note: the title in the table above is printed below the engraving CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE ANTIQUE VIEWS OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE LIKE THIS ONE!! AN ANTIQUE STEEL ENGRAVING MADE IN THE EARLY 1840s !! ITEM IS OVER 150 YEARS OLD! VERY OLD WORLD! INCREDIBLE DETAIL! FROM THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: The fall of Chapoo and death of Colonel Tomimson have been described in the pages of our preceding volume of the accompanying view places before the reader the local characters of the scene on which it occurred. In other countries, as well as in China, temples of religious worship have been converted into places of temporary defence, in time of war, and garrisoned by gallant companies that have done honour to their country. Instances are so numerous, that no student of history can be unacquainted with some of them. The positions of churches, either on a conspicuous eminence, or in a sheltered glen-either in the very centre of the village, or commanding its entrance-having a tower well suited for a military post, from which musketry can act, with dreadful effect, upon an assailing party, render their occupancy always a point of importance. And it may accordingly be ob-served, that the most fatal encounters, in every aggressive war, have arisen from a struggle for their possession. The death of Colonel Tomlinson was attended with circumstances of greater gallantry than any other event in the Chinese war; and the obstinate defence of the Joss-house at Chapoo may be appealed to by the Tartars, as an evidence of their personal bravery. Like the religions of the Chinese, their places of worship are also various : temples, on an extensive scale, capacious and lofty; but joss-houses, of minor proportions: the former often adorned with pagodas-the latter seldom ; but, both possessing accommodation for resident bonzes, and altars for consultation, to which votaries bring joss-sticks, and perfumes, and tin-foil, and other ingredients requisite for the performance of ceremonies calculated to propitiate the tutelar deities. How these inferior gods became entitled to this worship is probably little understood by the frequenters of their temples, especially since the number is considerable, and the idea attached to the divinity of many somewhat complex. Besides Halls of Confucius, Joss-Houses, or Halls of Ancestors, Temples to Buddha and Taou-tze, there are Miaos to the Mother of Heaven, the God of Fire, the Devil Star, the Four Chaste Ladies, the Dragon King, Literature, the Winds, Longevity-deities who attend travellers, and conduct them home in safety; and others, of whose offices the description would be still more tedious. To all these objects of worship, joss-houses appear to be consecrated; and to some of them, (the du majores, probably,) greater buildings. Notwithstanding the obvious fully of the Chinese modes of worship, there is one principle connected with them that is exemplary -toleration. Nor is the objection of much weight which ascribes that quality to indifference rather than liberality, for, the Chinese may employ the arguments of Symmachus, a bitter enemy of Christianity, who yet maintained the free exercise of conscience in matters of religion. "Because God is immense and infinite," says this epistolary author, "and his nature cannot be perfectly known, it is convenient he should be as diversely worshipped as every man shall perceive or understand "-a deplorable theory, yet the offspring of reason. The same writer recommends, "that every province should retain its own institutions, revelations, orders, oracles, which the genii of the place may, from time to time, have dictated to their priests or ministers." There cannot be a more accurate account of the plurality of religions that prevail in China, nor of the grounds on which toleration is permitted in that empire. ABOUT THE ARTIST: Thomas Allom (1804-1872) was a Topographical Illustrator and Architect. He was born in London, England and in 1819 he was apprenticed to the architect Francis Goodwin. He produced designs for buildings, churches, workhouses and a military asylum in London and carried them out himself as well as working with the architect Sir Charles Barry on numerous projects. He found time to produce an enormous number of views, and like his contemporary William Henry Bartlett, illustrated places rather than people or still life. Allom was a founder member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He died at the age of 68 in Barnes, London, England. Though he traveled widely in the course of his work, Allom produced his drawings of China, probably his most successful series, by merely crossing the road from the house in Hart Street to the British Museum. It was obviously an economical solution for his publisher, who had managed to convince himself that 'Having dwelt in "the land of the cypress and myrtle", Mr. Allom's talents were fully matured for the faithful delineation of Oriental scenery. His designs were based entirely on the work of earlier artists who had traveled in China, and although he has been justifiably criticised for failure in some instances to acknowledge the original sketches, Allom displays considerable resourcefulness and ingenuity in the way he borrowed and gathered his material from them. Acknowledgement was made to three amateurs, eight of the plates to Lieutenant Frederick White R.M., fourteen to Captain Stoddart, R.N. and two to R. Varnham (who was the son of a tea planter and a pupil of George Chinnery (1774-1852). Nine designs are taken entirely or partially from Sketches of China and the Chinese (1842) by August Borget (1808-1877)," which had been published in England the previous year. He made neat pencil sketches from an album of Chinese landscapes water colours by anonymous Chinese artists that he then turned into fourteen designs. "Another group are based on a set of anonymous drawings that show the silk manufacturing process. Allom made particularly ingenious use of the drawings of William Alexander (1767-1818). Having first traced over a number of Alexander's watercolors in the British Museum (a practice which would certainly be frowned upon today) he used these tracings' either in part or combination in about twenty of his designs. But he never uses exactly the same scene as Alexander without altering the viewpoint or changing the details, his knowledge of perspective enabling him 'to walk round' a view of a building as in his Western Gates of Peking, which takes a viewpoint to the other side of the river. He uses background to Alexander's more peaceful seascape of 1794, The Forts of Anunghoi saluting the 'Lion' in the Bocca Tigris, and updates it to an event sketched by White during the First Opium War of 1841 when the Imogene and Andromache under Lord Napier forced a passage through the straits. Two of Alexander's drawings are sometimes combined - his Chinamen playing 'Shitticock' (sic) are placed by Allom in front of the Pagoda of Lin-ching-shih taken from another Alexander drawing. The prints were a welcome addition to Fisher's series and became the best known source on the subject of China. Until the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 China had been almost totally inaccessible to the European traveller but the first Opium War had created a new sort of interest. The admiration of the 18th and early 19th centuries for Chinese culture and decoration was replaced by a more critical and inquiring attitude. Until photography gave a more accurate picture, a great many people's perception of China and the Chinese people was probably influenced by Allom's idealised images. An interesting use of these, on the ceramic pot lids produced by F. & R. Pratt and Co. throughout the second half of the 19th century, demonstrate how Allom's images, themselves derived from such a variety of sources, became in turn a design source for other ornamental applications. Because of their decorative appeal wide use is still made of reproductions of these illustrations. SIZE: Image size is 5 inches by 7 1/2 inches. Print size is 7 inches by 10 inches. CONDITION: Condition is excellent. Bright and clean. Blank on reverse. SHIPPING: Buyers to pay shipping/handling, domestic orders receives priority mail, international orders receive regular mail. We pack properly to protect your item! Please note: the terms used in our auctions for engraving, heliogravure, lithograph, print, plate, photogravure etc. are ALL prints on paper, NOT blocks of steel or wood. "ENGRAVINGS", the term commonly used for these paper prints, were the most common method in the 1700s and 1800s for illustrating old books, and these paper prints or "engravings" were inserted into the book with a tissue guard frontis, usually on much thicker quality rag stock paper, although many were also printed and issued as loose stand alone prints. So this auction is for an antique paper print(s), probably from an old book, of very high quality and usually on very thick rag stock paper. EXTREMELY RARE IN THIS EXCELLENT CONDITION!