Exhibiting China

Lamqua (about 1801—about 1860), Houqua, ca. 1835-1840, oil on canvas, Ipswich Public Library, Ipswich, MA

Cloisonné Duck (Chinese, 1735–1796), Cloisonné with copper, brass, and enamel

Studio of Lam Qua, Lin Chong, (Chinese, ca. 1835-1840), oil on canvas, Union Club of Boston

Maturin Murray Ballou (American, 1820–1895) Ship Building at East Boston Boston: M. M. Ballou, 1855 Detached from Ballou’s Pictorial

On view in the Gordon Room August 11 – November 1, 2025

Exhibiting China revisits the Boston Athenaeum’s 1850 art exhibition, the first one held at 10½ Beacon, just one year after the building opened. Among the 268 paintings featured in that show were five portraits by Chinese portrait artist Lamqua. Thanks to generous loans from the museums that now own them, this installation reunites these portraits for the first time in 175 years alongside a curated selection of other works originally shown in the landmark 1850 exhibition, highlighting the artistic and cultural dialogues of the period.

Originally owned by prominent China Trade merchant and Athenaeum proprietor Augustine Heard (1785–1868), the portraits were produced in the studio of the Chinese artist Lamqua (1801–1860), who specialized in Western-style portraits for European and American clients. They depict Chinese businesspeople who facilitated trade for Americans in China during the nineteenth century. Exhibited at the Athenaeum for the first time since 1850, these five portraits prompt us to consider the people with whom American merchants worked, and how they amassed the fortunes that supported institutions back home.