'Temple Official' by Robert Taylor Pritchett (1882)

'Temple Official', pencil and watercolour on paper by Robert Taylor Pritchett (1882). This is the artist's portrait of a financial official in a Cantonese temple in Guangzhou, China in the latter half of the 19th century. His garment is typical of that of a senior civil servant of the Chinese government. Clothes were designed to indicate rank and status, becoming so distinct that the wearer’s position could be ascertained at a glance. During his second career as an artist, Pritchett traveled widely in the Pacific region in the 1880s. This artwork has been professionally restored and cleaned to preserve it for decades to come and therefore in good overall condition. It has also been newly framed and glazed. The artist has written 'The Treasurer & Temple' and '5 Geni Temple, Canton Jan. 22 1882' on the lower left and right hands of the artwork. Upon request a video of the work may be provided.

About the Artist: Robert Taylor Pritchett (1823 - 1907), a gun maker and artist, was the son of Richard Ellis Pritchett, the head of the firm of Enfield gun makers which supplied arms to the East India Company and the Board of Ordnance. His early career was with spent at the gun makers where he invented a bullet that corrected the eccentricity of the Enfield rifle and won him fame as the 'Father of the Enfield rifle'. The company lost its principal customer with the abolition of the East India Company in 1858 and Pritchett embarked on a new career as an artist. Retaining as his device an ancient harquebusier and his gun, he travelled widely, and won Queen Victoria's patronage in 1868. He was subsequently commissioned by the Queen to paint over 80 watercolours of her Jubilees and family events. A keen yachtsman, Pritchett was marine painter to the Royal Thames Yacht Club. He cruised the Pacific and tropics in the 1880s, on Joseph Lambert's Wanderer and on Sir Thomas and Lady Brassey's Sunbeam. His drawings illustrated the 1890 edition of Darwin's Voyage of the 'Beagle' (Ref: Christie's Auction House).

Dimensions with Frame:

H 34.5 cm / 13.6"

W 28.5 cm / 11.2"

Dimensions without Frame:

H 22 cm / 8.7"

W 16.5 cm / 6.5"