Chinese Mandarin
Reproduction
Object numberRCSSC/P 242
CollectionHunterian Art
CategoryVisual works
Object nameOil paintings, Portraits
TitleChinese Mandarin
DescriptionPortrait of Tan-Che-Qua, a Chinese modeller resident in London between 1769 and 1772, unsigned, attributed to John Hamilton Mortimer, 1770-1.
Half length to right in feigned oval; the sitter wears a brown coat with narrow fur collar and a conical red cap surmounted with a spherical button or pom-pom; he holds a fan in his right hand.
Traditionally the sitter in this portrait has been identified as Quang at Tong (also transcribed as Whan at Tong) who visited the Royal Society on 12 January 1775. However recent research suggests that the sitter is in fact a Chinese modeller called Tan-Che-Qua (also transcribed as Chitqua) who was resident in London between 1769 and about 1772. Tan-Che-Qua exhibited work at the Royal Academy in 1770 and is included in Johann Zoffany's group portrait of the Royal Academicians, where he is shown in the same headgear as in this portrait. Tan-Che-Qua is also shown in a portrait sketch by Charles Grignion, apparently made at about the same time as Zoffany's painting.
Tan-Che-Qua arrived in London in 1769 aboard the East-Indiaman 'Horsendon'. He settled in London and established himself in business as a modeller, charging ten guineas for a bust and fifteen for a whole-length statuette. He apparently worked with clay brought from with him from China. Only one example of his work is known to survive, a figurine of the physician Anthony Askew (1722-1774), now preserved in the collection of the Royal College of Physicians.
Tan-Che-Qua was described by the antiquary Richard Gough as 'a middle-sized man, about or above forty, thin and lank... his upper lip covered with thin hair an inch long, and very strong and black; on his head no hair except the long lock braided into a tail almost a yard long...He wears the dress of his own country...'. Although Tan-Che-Qua was feted at the Academy and was apparently well-known in London, he found it hard to settle. In March 1771 he attempted to return to China on the East-Indiaman 'Grenville', but was treated with suspicion by the superstitious crew. He narrowly escaped death after falling overboard and was eventually put ashore at Deal in Kent. He returned to London, but it is likely that he made a successful return to China the following year. According to the Gentleman's Magazine he died by suicide in Canton in the mid-1790s.
In April 1771 John Hamilton Mortimer exhibited a portrait of 'Chit Qua, the Chinese modeller' at the annual exhibition of the Incorporated Society of Artists. It is highly probable that this is the same work. Mortimer was an active member of the Society, to which John Hunter was invited to lecture in anatomy in January 1770. Mortimer almost certainly attended anatomical demonstrations by John and William Hunter, though his distaste for dissection is reflected in a drawing, later published by Samuel Ireland, showing William and John Hunter working on a dead body.
The portrait was owned by John Hunter before 1793, and was among those displayed in his museum in Leicester Square.
Production date 1770 - 1771
Artist
Sitter/subject
Owner/user
transferred
Physical Location
Location
Not on public display: contact museum for access conditions
Physical Information
Physical descriptionOil on canvas, in a painted oval, 75cm by 62cm, in frame, 88.4cm by 75.5cm.
Dimensions
canvas height: 750 mm
canvas width: 620 mm
canvas width: 620 mm
Bibliography
SourceSunderland 1986
Cat. 50/Fig. 95
NotesThis catalogue of Mortimer's work includes a portrait of a Chinese man which is tentatively identified as Mortimer's portrait of Chit Qua. The work, which was in a private collection in 1986, shows a sitter in traditional Chinese dress: his face is noticeably fatter than in the RCS portrait. This portrait is smaller than the 'three-quarters' (about 30 by 25 inches) described in the original Society of Artists catalogue. Discussion with the author (2006) suggests that the RCS portrait is a more likely candidate for the work exhibited by Mortimer, although it is perfectly feasible that Mortimer painted two copies.
SourcePiper 1952
198-199
NotesPiper's article contains some biographical details of Chitqua together with a reproduction of a sketch portrait by Charles Grignion apparently made at the same time as Zoffany's group portrait of the Royal Academicians.
SourceLe Fanu 1960
NotesThe identification of the sitter as Quang-at-Tong is now thought to be mistaken.
Transcript242. Chinese Mandarin. Hunterian
Oil on canvas, unsigned. 75 x 62 cm. Half length to right, in feigned oval. He wears a brown coat with narrow fur collar, and a round red cap with a spherical brass button at top, and holds a fan in his right hand. Clift 1816 no. 27, 1820 no. 13; Keith no. 2. Probably a portrait of Quang at Tong, who was at the Royal Society on 12 January 1775.
SourceClift 1816
NotesManuscript list titled "A List of Paintings and Drawings framed and glazed, numbered according to the Situation in which they were placed round the rail of the Gallery in Mr. Hunter's museum in Castle Street Leicester Square"
Transcript27. Portrait of a Chinese Mandarin
SourceSociety of Artists 1771
9
NotesThis was one of five works exhibited by John Hamilton Mortimer at the exhibition.
TranscriptMr Mortimer, Bedford-street, Covent-garden. ... 86. A portrait of Chit Qua, the Chinese modeller, a three quarters.
