China, HOLY ISLAMIC TOMBS XIAMEN LINGSHAN MOUNTAIN ~ 1842 Art Print Engraving

Description: ANCIENT TOMBS NEAR AMOY Artist: Thomas Allom ____________ Engraver: W. Le Petit Note: the title in the table above is printed below the engraving AN ANTIQUE STEEL ENGRAVING MADE IN THE EARLY 1840s !! ITEM IS OVER 150 YEARS OLD! VERY OLD WORLD! INCREDIBLE DETAIL! FROM THE ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION: Every addition made to our knowledge of Chinese history and habits, contributes to render the analogy with other Oriental countries closer, by which their vain notions, of I separate origin from the rest of mankind, meet with circumstantial contradiction. Ceremonies in honour of the dead, form no minor criterion of previous identity, and, when ever we find two nations, or people, observing rites nearly similar, and those of a very complicated character, it may, with great probability, be concluded, that they are derived from a common origin. All the forms of a Chinese marriage are discoverable in some country or other of the Eastern hemisphere, their affectation of peculiarities being an insufficient disguise. So also, in the burial of the dead, a striking similarity to the practices of countries described in Scripture, has been ascertained, by modern travellers, to prevail in China. Exploring parties of British officers, actuated by no other motives than those of curiosity, amusement, or instruction, set out from Arnoy, and, ascending the granite hills that shelter and adorn the vicinity, were astonished by the discovery of an ancient cemetery. It occupied a hollow or excavation in the mountain, such as would have been left by an extensively wrought quarry, and, from its weather-worn appearance, was evidently of most ancient construction. A crescented tomb of triple walls, dedicated to a mandarin of high rank, stood in front of the enclosure, behind which rose a long flight of steps cut in the rock, leading up to a gateway of grotesque design, consisting of a double ogee-roof, sustained by four wooden columns. The inner space had evidently, in former ages, been excavated, the stone carried away, and the regular area left by its removal, formed into galleries and promenades, rising in tiers one above the other. In some instances, vast spaces were enclosed by walls of solid masonry, within which were temples, or tombs, hollowed from the rock, and filled with remains of the dead. In other directions, several hundred vaults stood, with opened doors, upon a gallery of considerable length. In some cells, urns, in others coffins, were found, while many had become altogether deserted and tenantless. Here, however, incontrovertible evidence is offered, that the Chinese anciently-for these sepulchres are, by themselves, considered to rank amongst their earliest records of civilization-entombed their dead in catacombs, like many other Oriental nations. The Egyptians constructed pyramids and labyrinths, to contain the remains of mortality. The Phoenicians and Greeks hollowed out rocks for tombs, surrounding their chief cities with depositories of the bones of their fathers. Beneath Rome, Naples, and Paris, are extensive catacombs; and gigantic construction so similar description, but far more early dates, exist on the African shores of the Mediterranean. The doors, or the panels cut in the rock on each side of them, in these catacombs of Arnoy, are carved with appropriate inscriptions, and with effigies of wives, or attendants, or slaves, or horses, or other objects that contributed-to the honour or happiness of the deceased. This custom is precisely co-incident with that of the most ancient Egyptians. There the catacombs give us an idea of those whose existence is still unknown to us. They contain the history of the country; and the customs and manners of the people, painted or sculptured in many monuments, are in the most admirable preservation. It was customary in China to bury slaves, and even queens, alive, with the remains of emperors and princes; but, the Tartars substituted the less cruel and sinful system of burning representations of all imperial attaches in tinfoil, and of placing little wooden images of them also upon the graves of their royal masters. The former custom, according to Herodotus, prevailed amongst the Scythians: at the funerals of their chiefs wives, servants, and horses were all impaled alive, and placed around the tyrant's tomb. In Egypt, the hieroglyphics on the walls of the mausoleum express the extent of the deceased princess authority, the number of his slaves, and of his subjects;-at Arnoy, the devices on the rochs are intended to express similar objects. These tombs, therefore, only made known to Europeans since the return of our victorious expedition from China in the year 1844 afford a convincing proof that the primaeval ha-hits of the Chinese did not differ from those of the earliest people spoken of in the Scriptures, for they also placed their dead in grottos. It may give confirmation to-the conclusion here attempted to be drawn, to quote this well-known passage in the sixth Aeneid of Virgil. Those pleasing cares the heroes felt, alive, For chariots, steeds, and arms in death survive, as evidence that the Romans were familiar with that kind of sepulchral sculpture, which perpetuated the dignity of the deceased hero: and a passage in the Electra of Euripides' Thou Queen Earth, to whom I stretch my hands, demonstrates an analogy between the funeral rites of the Chinese and the Greeks, all tombs in the kingdom of Cathay being, to the present day, consecrated most especially to How-too, or, queen earth. ABOUT THE ARTIST: Thomas Allom (1804-1872) was a Topographical Illustrator and Architect. He was born in London, England and in 1819 he was apprenticed to the architect Francis Goodwin. He produced designs for buildings, churches, workhouses and a military asylum in London and carried them out himself as well as working with the architect Sir Charles Barry on numerous projects. He found time to produce an enormous number of views, and like his contemporary William Henry Bartlett, illustrated places rather than people or still life. Allom was a founder member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He died at the age of 68 in Barnes, London, England. Though he traveled widely in the course of his work, Allom produced his drawings of China, probably his most successful series, by merely crossing the road from the house in Hart Street to the British Museum. It was obviously an economical solution for his publisher, who had managed to convince himself that 'Having dwelt in "the land of the cypress and myrtle", Mr. Allom's talents were fully matured for the faithful delineation of Oriental scenery. His designs were based entirely on the work of earlier artists who had traveled in China, and although he has been justifiably criticised for failure in some instances to acknowledge the original sketches, Allom displays considerable resourcefulness and ingenuity in the way he borrowed and gathered his material from them. Acknowledgement was made to three amateurs, eight of the plates to Lieutenant Frederick White R.M., fourteen to Captain Stoddart, R.N. and two to R. Varnham (who was the son of a tea planter and a pupil of George Chinnery (1774-1852). Nine designs are taken entirely or partially from Sketches of China and the Chinese (1842) by August Borget (1808-1877)," which had been published in England the previous year. He made neat pencil sketches from an album of Chinese landscapes water colours by anonymous Chinese artists that he then turned into fourteen designs. "Another group are based on a set of anonymous drawings that show the silk manufacturing process. Allom made particularly ingenious use of the drawings of William Alexander (1767-1818). Having first traced over a number of Alexander's watercolors in the British Museum (a practice which would certainly be frowned upon today) he used these tracings' either in part or combination in about twenty of his designs. But he never uses exactly the same scene as Alexander without altering the viewpoint or changing the details, his knowledge of perspective enabling him 'to walk round' a view of a building as in his Western Gates of Peking, which takes a viewpoint to the other side of the river. He uses background to Alexander's more peaceful seascape of 1794, The Forts of Anunghoi saluting the 'Lion' in the Bocca Tigris, and updates it to an event sketched by White during the First Opium War of 1841 when the Imogene and Andromache under Lord Napier forced a passage through the straits. Two of Alexander's drawings are sometimes combined - his Chinamen playing 'Shitticock' (sic) are placed by Allom in front of the Pagoda of Lin-ching-shih taken from another Alexander drawing. The prints were a welcome addition to Fisher's series and became the best known source on the subject of China. Until the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 China had been almost totally inaccessible to the European traveller but the first Opium War had created a new sort of interest. The admiration of the 18th and early 19th centuries for Chinese culture and decoration was replaced by a more critical and inquiring attitude. Until photography gave a more accurate picture, a great many people's perception of China and the Chinese people was probably influenced by Allom's idealised images. An interesting use of these, on the ceramic pot lids produced by F. & R. Pratt and Co. throughout the second half of the 19th century, demonstrate how Allom's images, themselves derived from such a variety of sources, became in turn a design source for other ornamental applications. Because of their decorative appeal wide use is still made of reproductions of these illustrations. SIZE: Image size is 5 inches by 7 1/2 inches. Print size is 7 inches by 10 inches. CONDITION: Condition is excellent. Bright and clean. Blank on reverse. SHIPPING: Buyers to pay shipping/handling, domestic orders receives priority mail, international orders receive regular mail. We pack properly to protect your item! Please note: the terms used in our auctions for engraving, heliogravure, lithograph, print, plate, photogravure etc. are ALL prints on paper, NOT blocks of steel or wood. "ENGRAVINGS", the term commonly used for these paper prints, were the most common method in the 1700s and 1800s for illustrating old books, and these paper prints or "engravings" were inserted into the book with a tissue guard frontis, usually on much thicker quality rag stock paper, although many were also printed and issued as loose stand alone prints. So this auction is for an antique paper print(s), probably from an old book, of very high quality and usually on very thick rag stock paper. EXTREMELY RARE IN THIS EXCELLENT CONDITION!

Price: 15.99 USD

Location: New Providence, New Jersey

End Time: 2023-10-01T18:23:20.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7.95 USD