Global Encounters and the Archives: Britain’s Empire in the Age of Horace Walpole
Item
Loum Kiqua, April 1757
Title
Loum Kiqua, April 1757
Description
This print depicts a Chinese visitor to Lisbon who, "after many hardships & ill treatments from the Portuguese," came to Britain in 1755, "where he met with different usage." There he paid visits to King George II and many members of the nobility before embarking back to "his Native Country" of Canton aboard an East India Company ship. Though this image conveys a dignified portrait of the Chinese visitor to London, the comparison it draws between British and Portuguese "usage" suggests another purpose: to frame Britain's empire as unparalleled in its bestowal of liberty and "benevolence" to native visitors. Catalog Record
Contributor
Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University Library
Creator
Thomas Burford
