View from a Bridge about Two Miles from Ningpo, showing the City, and the British, French and Imperial Encampments

This drawing relates to the civil war in China (1850–64), also called the Taiping Rebellion, which erupted northward from Guangxi to the Yangtze. During the height of the uprising, French and British forces chose to aid the Qing government to fight with the Taipings.

The drawing is signed ‘SES’ in the lower left. A print after the drawing was published in the ‘Illustrated London News’ on 2 August 1862 (p. 120) on a page of illustrations purportedly representing the capture of Ningpo (Ningbo) by British and French forces on 10 May 1862. According to the accompanying account (p. 138), 'Through the courtesy of Mr McArthur, Paymaster in the Royal Navy, and of Mr. Saunders, photographer, of Shanghai, we are enabled to give in our present Impression several Engravings in connection with this gallant feat of arms.' The caption for this image was ‘View from a Bridge about Two Miles from Ningpo, showing the City, and the British, French and Imperial Encampments’.

Another image on the page (see PAI0724) was captioned ‘The Capture of Ningpo – Breaches in the City Wall’. However, comparison with photographs of the time has shown that it in fact represents a scene from the capture of Qingpu on 12 May. It is probable that the present bridge view also depicts a scene from Qingpu and was similarly miscaptioned.

This drawing is part of a set of seven drawings showing scenes from the Taiping Rebellion, all of which were engraved in the 'Illustrated London News'. The set was given to the museum in October 1964 in memory of Margaret Maxwell Wood, step-daughter of Captain Alexander Douglas, who was reportedly present at the actions and owned the drawings. They were originally miscatalogued as depicting scenes from the Second Opium War. For the full set, see, PAI0719, PAI0720, PAI0721, PAI0722, PAI0723, PAI0724 and PAI0725.