Sampans from Canton

de Kurt Almqvist, Kenneth Nyberg, Svante Nordin, Magnus Olausson, Kerstin Barup

The Sampans from Canton is a collection of 99 Chinese gouaches from the second half of the eighteenth century. In minute detail, they depict an entire community afloat on the water, with the various sampan vessels used for everything from the sale of fruit and religious ceremonies to warfare and thievery. For more than 200 years, the gouaches hung in Skärfva Manor House, the home of shipbuilder and dockyard manager Vice Admiral Fredric Henric af Chapman, on the outskirts of Karlskrona, Sweden. In 2014, the collection was broken up for auction and Nordstjernan AB bought the gouaches in order to keep them in the country. Today they can be found at the UNESCO World Heritage Site Engelsberg Ironworks and, thanks to their virtually pristine condition, are a unique chronicle of the dream of China and contacts between the east and west. The book is the first detailed account of the collection and examines the gouaches from both an art history and an historical perspective. With this as a foundation, they can continue to serve as an important entry into the 18th century world of ideas and for understanding Fredric Henric af Chapman's great importance as a collector and visionary.