Prints

C.Graham del., A.H. Payne, sculp.. The London Painting and Publishing Company.

One of the most charming early view of Hong Kong with a variety of ships in the harbour. In the foreground to the right are Chinese people on pleasure boats and junks. In the middle is a paddle steamer, a large trading junk and an East Indiaman. In the distance are the new buildings below the Peak on Hong Kong Island.

C. Graham was an English artist working in the middle of the nineteenth century. Benezit states that C. Graham was an English lithographer and painter of the nineteenth century.He exhibited views of the streets of St Petersburg at the Royal Acadamy between 1841 and 1850. The British Museum has a lithograph of Chinese junks in 1839 by C. Graham.

We are not sure that he visited Hong Kong but he did draw one of the most atmospheric early views of Hong Kong from the harbour. This was engraved on steel by A.H. Payne.

References:

Benezit, E. Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs. 1976