Details of Sculptor

Surname

Chitqua

Alternative Surname

Shykingqua

First Name

Initial of Surname

C

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

Year of Death

1796

Biographical Details

Chitqua was a Cantonese modeller. He appears to have been one of a number of sculptors who modelled faces or statuettes of western merchants visiting the port. Thomas Bentley wrote to Josiah Wedgwood that Chitqua was ‘one of those artists who make the mandarin figures that are brought to England, a pair of which you may remember to have seen at Mr Walley’s shop’ (Whitley 1928, 1, 270). Unlike his contemporaries he actually visited England and because of his skills and exotic appearance became a celebrated guest of artists and aristocrats. He arrived from Canton in August 1769 on the Hoisendon East Indiaman under Captain Jameson. Apparently he had gained permission from the Chinese government to go to Bavaria but the Gentleman’s Magazine states that ‘curiosity and respect for the British, induced him to visit this island’ (GM 1771, 41, 237-238). Others suggested that he was escaping debtors.
He took lodgings at a hatter’s premises in Norfolk Street and on 22 April 1770 was a guest with the Earl of Carlisle, Horace Walpole, Edmund Burke and Charles Jennens, at the Royal Academy’s grand dinner in Pall Mall (Press Cuttings 1723-1800, f 108). This was held to celebrate the opening of the Royal Academy exhibition, in which Chitqua exhibited a specimen of his work (3), giving his address as Arundell Street. An observer, Richard Gough, described him as ‘a middle sized man, about or above forty, thin and lank ... his upper lip covered with thin hair an inch long ... on his head no hair except the long lock braided into a tail almost a yard long ... his lips prominent, nose long, eyes not very lively, nails as long as one sees of our sedentary mechanics. He wears the dress of his own country, a pointed stiff cap, with a border turned up of quilted silk, an undervest like a banian of green silk, with a lining; his upper vest a kind of mantelet; his drawers much the same as his undervest, and his slippers yellow. He complained much of cold, but had no fire; and preferred the country to London only for quietness from noise, for he meets with no insults in the streets. He likes his own climate best, and returns with the next shipping’ (quoted in Sunderland 1988, 142).
Chitqua’s intention of returning home was frustrated. In 1771 he embarked on the Grenville at Gravesend, where the sailors considered him a Jonah, sure to bring bad luck to the ship because of his strange dress. After sustained abuse from the men and an unfortunate incident in which he fell overboard and nearly drowned, he begged to be put ashore at Deal. The Captain obliged and sent the pilot to accompany Chitqua to London, but on arriving in the city the sculptor could not recollect or express intelligibly where he lived and ‘a mob gathered round the hackney coach and began to abuse and beat the pilot, for having, as they supposed, kidnapped a foreigner.’ Chitqua was eventually rescued by a friendly gentleman who recognised him and conveyed him to lodgings in the Strand. The volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine which carried the news of this scandalous event also gave a full description of his appearance, noting that he ‘speaks the Lingua Franca mixt with broken English; is very sensible and a great observer. He is remarkably ingenious in forming small busts with a sort of China earth, many of which carry a striking likeness of the person they are designed to represent. He steals a likeness, and forms the busts from memory’ (GM 1771, 41, 237-238).
He appears to have had numerous English patrons, including William Hickey, who was evidently appreciative of his detailed modelling and polychrome finish, for Hickey wore his most elaborate clothes for the occasion (2). Bentley noted that the modeller had also ‘been with the King and Queen, who were much pleased with him, and he is to take the portraits of the Royal Infantry. He has ten guineas a piece for his little portraits, which are very small’ (Whitley 1928, 1, 270). The only certain surviving work which Chitqua produced in England is the painted clay statuette of Dr Anthony Askew (1), seated on a rocky base and holding his customary gold-headed cane. Chitqua apparently wrote accounts on oriental gardening for a letter from Archdeacon Clive to ‘SWC’ of Berkeley Square, London refers to ‘the explanatory discourse by Chitqua [on the subject] ... which I have read with the highest satisfaction’ (BM MS 41,136 fol 14, 28 March 1774).
The Chinaman returned to Canton in 1772 and died there in 1796. The Gentleman’s Magazine reminded readers of the identity of ‘Chitqua or Shykinqua (as some write the name), the ingenious artist.’ They reported ‘the news of his death, and of its having been occasioned by his taking poison’ (GM 1797, 47, 1072).
There are numerous surviving examples of Cantonese statuettes modelled in painted clay depicting western figures of this period. These are frequently attributed to Chitqua and include a portrait of a Dutch merchant in painted and unfired clay in the Rijksmuseum, and a statuette with real hair in a private collection, thought to represent the actor David Garrick.
MGS
Literary References: Graves II, 1905-6, 60; Piper 1952, 198; Charleston 1958, 459-461; Crossman 1991, 314; Rijksmuseum Portraits 1995, 86; Portraits of Garrick, 2003, 69-70 (repr).
Representations of the Sculptor: John Hamilton Mortimer, portrait of Chit Qua, the Chinese Modeller, oil on canvas, private coll (Sunderland 1988, 142, repr); Charles Grignion, drawing, 1771, Asmolean (Piper 1952, 198, repr); J Zoffany Life School at the Royal Academy, 1771, RA