This lithograph print is a reproduction of an original drawing by Auguste van Pers (1815-1871), a Dutch artist who spent much of his life in the Dutch East Indies. It shows a Chinese merchant, with characteristic Qing Dynasty queue and skullcap, reclining in a type of palanquin known in Java as a tandoe. Tandoe were popular conveyances over mountainous terrain and were usually carried by two or four men; the two in this print wear north coast Javanese style textile wraps. The design of the tandoe pictured here reflects the occupant, with overhanging curled red terminals and two Chinese style dragons on the apex. This print is part of a series that was begun in Batavia in 1851, but abandoned when van Pers had to return to Holland. C.W. Meiling, one of the foremost Dutch lithographers of the time, eventually published the work in parts between 1853 and 1854 as Nederlandsch Oost-Indische Typen (literally ‘Dutch East Indies Types’). It is captioned in Dutch, Javanese, and French, as is common on prints focusing on the Dutch East Indies.
