Canton factories

This painting is signed and dated "1786" on the back of the frame. Rather than an indication of the date on which the painting was finished, it is generally believed that 1786 is the date of the sketch made during the first trip to Canton of William Daniell and his uncle Thomas Daniell, who spent several months there. Records show that William exhibited two oil paintings at the Royal Academy in England in 1806 and 1808 depicting a similar subject matter, so it is most likely that this painting was produced around this period.

This painting captures a prosperous image of the foreign factories in Canton. In China trade, the term "factory" was used for premises/an agency for conducting trade and commerce. Here, by the riverbank from left to right, we can see the Danish, French, Imperial, Swedish, British and Dutch flags in front of their respective factories, and the viewer's gaze is led from the junk on the right in the foreground towards the British factory behind. It was less common for Western artists than for Chinese export artists to work on scenes of the Canton factories, which makes this a very important work of superb quality.