Antique Colonial Nautical Painting Hong Kong School Gouache, Outbound Junk on the Pearl River, Hong Kong, Circa 1914

Details

Description

Antique Colonial Nautical Painting Hong Kong School Marine Gouache, Outbound Junk on the Pearl River, Hong Kong, 1914 – Attributed … Read more Antique Colonial Nautical Painting Hong Kong School Marine Gouache, Outbound Junk on the Pearl River, Hong Kong, 1914 – Attributed to the Ah Hee Studio / Circle of Ah Hee
Companion Piece Available
A matching companion painting, Inbound Junk, is also available in a separate listing. If you would like to purchase the pair together, please contact us via message.
Subject and Medium
A fine Hong Kong School gouache depicting a three-masted southern Chinese trading junk outward bound from the Pearl River Delta towards the open South China Sea. The vessel heels gently to starboard across a lively blue-green swell, her sails drawing as she leaves the low coastline astern under a humid early morning sky.
Medium: Gouache on paper
Date: 1914
Composition and Technique
The artist concentrates on a classic Pearl River Delta junk at the moment of departure: broad-beamed, high-sterned and deeply laden for the sea passage ahead. Her characteristic battened lug sails are fully unfurled, each panel carefully modelled to show the tension of wind and canvas as she gathers way. The long projecting bow, stepped masts and high poop deck are all typical features of the southern coastal trading type, designed to carry substantial cargo yet remain responsive in monsoon-driven waters.
Crew figures are shown attending to sheets and rigging at bow and stern, emphasizing the ship as a working vessel rather than a generic “Chinese junk” motif. The choppy blue-green water is animated with swift, opaque highlights of white, convincingly suggesting spray, movement and the energy of an outgoing tide.
To the left, a faint, receding coastline marks the sheltered waters of Hong Kong and Canton falling behind, while the more open, luminous expanse ahead implies the South China Sea and the voyage to come. The subtle gradation of the sky – from soft, pearly tones at the horizon to clearer light above – captures the humid clarity of an early summer morning and carries the traditional symbolism of optimism and safe passage.
In keeping with other works associated with the Ah Hee Studio, the technique combines Chinese linear discipline and calligraphic handling of sea and sky with Western-style maritime draughtsmanship, producing a ship portrait that is both accurate and atmospheric.
Inscriptions
Along the lower edge the work is fully inscribed in English: “A. Hean” at lower left, “Mouth of the Pearl River” at the centre, and “Hong Kong” at lower right. These inscriptions fix the work to a precise setting and follow the familiar format seen on comparable Hong Kong School ship portraits of the period, securely tying it to the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong in 1914.
Artist and Attribution
The painting is attributed to the Ah Hee Studio / Circle of Ah Hee, active in Hong Kong from around 1895 to 1925 and regarded as one of the last important successors to the great Canton ateliers of Tingqua and Sunqua. Ah Hee and his associates specialised in finely detailed gouache views of harbours and individual ships, painted for Western merchants, naval officers and travellers wishing to commemorate the vessels and ports of their Far Eastern service.
The present work, signed “A. Hean”, displays all the hallmarks of that atelier: meticulous rigging, a confident and accurate rendering of the junk’s distinctive hull and sail plan, and the characteristic English titling along the lower margin. Dated to 9 July 1914, just weeks before the outbreak of the First World War, it belongs to the final phase of the China Trade painting tradition, when steamships already dominated long-distance routes but traditional junks still carried passengers and cargo throughout the Pearl River Delta.
Frame and Presentation
The painting is preserved in its Hong Kong faux-bamboo gilt-wood frame with an ochre-gold bevelled mount – a classic and highly desirable export presentation. Finished to imitate bamboo, the frame reflects a fashionable style favoured by leading Queen’s Road Central shops between about 1905 and 1915, catering to expatriate and visiting clientele.
The gold mount is formed from gilded card with a pressed bronze-powder surface that has mellowed attractively. On the reverse, a photographic record of the original backing card has been retained, showing the framer’s graphite workshop note. Parts of this inscription remain legible, including instructions such as:
“Cut mounts / Oak and slip”
“2/6 each cut mounts / Oak and a slip / 9 Jul 1914 / 14 + 11 in / To be sent before 6 o’clock.”
Beneath these trade details the backing also carries a lightly written address to a Mrs [name indistinct], “11 Glencoe Rd…”, almost certainly the original customer.
This combination of job notation and address ties the framing securely to Hong Kong on 9 July 1914 and records the precise day the work was completed and prepared for export, probably by a major house such as Lane Crawford & Co. or A.S. Watson & Co.
For modern conservation, the picture has been discreetly re-glazed with AR70 museum-grade UV-filtering glass, preserving the historic frame and mount while providing excellent protection and clarity.
Dimensions
Framed: approximately 42 cm wide × 35.5 cm high × 2 cm deep
A beautifully balanced, manageable size that hangs perfectly in a study, library or on a maritime collector’s wall.
Provenance
Painted and inscribed in Hong Kong in July 1914 by a member of the Ah Hee Studio.
Mounted and framed in Hong Kong on 9 July 1914, as confirmed by the framer’s graphite note and address on the original backing card.
Almost certainly acquired by a British expatriate or naval officer and taken back to the United Kingdom shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, remaining thereafter in a private U.K. collection by family descent.
In the 21st century curated by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD and selected for exhibition in Sailing Through Time – Maritime Art of the East at the Lord Hill Museum, Autumn 2025.
Why This Work Stands Out
A striking depiction of a southern Chinese junk on her outbound voyage, capturing the moment she leaves the protection of the Pearl River for the open South China Sea.
A signed, titled and precisely dated Hong Kong School gouache, firmly tied to 9 July 1914 – a wonderfully specific snapshot of maritime life at the very end of the age of sail in South China.
A rare survival of colonial Hong Kong taste and a fine example of the late China Trade tradition.
Attributed to the influential Ah Hee Studio, highly attractive to collectors of maritime, China Trade and Hong Kong art.
Ready to hang, and particularly appealing as a companion to an “inbound” view.

Overall, this is a clean, well-preserved and historically intact example, ready to hang. See less