China – Reinier Vinkeles after William Alexander, 1800-1801

CHINA, FROM CHENGDE VIA BEIJING TO HANGZHOU

“Reis-Kaart van het Britsche Gezantschap van Zhe-Hol in Tartarije over Peking naar Hang-Choe-Foe in China.” [Travel Map of the British Embassy from Zhe-Hol in Tartary via Beijing to Hang-Choe-Foo in China.] Copper engraving made by Reinier Vinkeles after a drawing by William Alexander (1767–1816), from “Reis van Lord Macartneij, naar China,” the Dutch translation of George Staunton‘s “An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China,“ published by Johannes Allard in Amsterdam, 1800–1801. Coloured by a later hand. Size: 31 × 27 cm.

This map shows the route of the first official British embassy to China, led by Lord George Macartney, which in 1793 traveled from Chengde (“Zhe-Hol”) in Tartary via Beijng to Hangzhou (“Hang-Choe-Foo”). The embassy aimed to establish diplomatic and commercial relations with the Chinese Empire but was ultimately dismissed by the court of Emperor Qianlong without success.

After their audience with Emperor Qianlong at his summer palace in Chengde, the delegation departed Peking in October 1793, following the Grand Canal southward. Passing through Tianjin, Jinan, Xuzhou, Yangzhou, and Nanjing, they reached Hangzhou on 8 November 1793, after a month of travel. Covering a distance of roughly 1,850 kilometers, the journey took about thirty-one days and became one of the most remarkable diplomatic expeditions to China of the eighteenth century.

Although the Macartney Embassy returned to London without securing any concessions from China, the mission can still be regarded as a partial success, as it yielded a wealth of detailed observations and descriptions of the Chinese Empire. The map itself records some of these vivid details (in Dutch): “A large area around Peking produces pulses and fruit.” — “From Peking to Tong-chang-foe (Dongchangfu), the land is very flat, and not a single stone is to be found.” — “Boundless fields of grain and cotton stretch along both banks of the river.” — “The people living around these lakes live solely by fishing; they are the ones who train the Chinese water raven (cormorant).”

Price: Euro 375,-