An Offender Undergoing the Bastinade, Antique China Print, 1801
€ 390
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1801
Mapmaker / artist
J. Dadley after Pu Qua, for George Henry Mason
Publisher
W. Miller, Old Bond Street, London
Technique
Stipple Engraving
Coloring
Original hand color
Sheet size
24.9 × 34.5 cm (9.8 × 13.6 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14488-3
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the left and right edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom right corner.
About this sheet
This is an original antique hand colored print of a Chinese punishment, a stipple engraving by J. Dadley for George Henry Mason's The Punishments of China. A man lies face down on the ground, his legs held, while an officer brings a flat bamboo down across him and a third figure stands by with a staff. The figures are hand colored in blue, red and buff against bare paper and the plate number is engraved in the upper corner. The sheet is trimmed below the image and the imprint is not present.
The plate belongs to The Punishments of China, Illustrated by Twenty Two Engravings, with Explanations in English and French, by George Henry Mason, printed for W. Miller of Old Bond Street in London in 1801. Mason had the original drawings made at Canton by the local artist known as Pu Qua, and J. Dadley engraved them in stipple for the London edition.
The bastinade was the ordinary summary punishment of the Qing courts and Mason's plate shows it as it was administered. Stipple engraving gives the flesh and the cloth a soft grain that copperplate line never achieves, and the contemporary hand coloring on these impressions is fresh. The sheet is mounted and carries its letterpress leaf on the verso, and it frames well in plain dark wood for a study, a library or a hallway.
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the left and right edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the bottom right corner.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
