This is a waterfront view of Singapore by an artist trained in the Chinese Export or China Trade style, adopted by artists who painted for the European market in the treaty ports of Asia. While many examples exist of Hong Kong and Canton (Guangzhou) painted in this style, such views of Singapore are rare. These Chinese-Export-style views of Singapore share a similar composition, depicting the waterfront marked by St. Andrew’s Church (St. Andrew’s Cathedral from 1870) and other bold buildings designed by G.D. Coleman. The Chinese junks anchored in the harbor – with their arched sides painted in streaks of red, yellow and white – show how Chinese-junk traffic was a crucial part of entrepot trade in the early 19th century. By the 1860s, Singapore was a major hub for China-bound goods, which amounted to about 20 percent of its total exports.
