The Life and Work of John Bradby Blake (1745-1773)

Rediscovering an Early European Encounter with the Plants of China

[To see details of this particular talk please scroll down to the bottom beyond the listings and the 2nd pic]

John Bradby Blake’s life was short but exceptional. During a span of only three years in the southern Chinese port city of Canton, Blake and his Chinese artist(s) produced several hundred exquisite, botanically accurate, coloured drawings of Chinese plants, many of which were unknown in the West. Hidden from public view for more than two centuries, these singular and historically crucial collaborative artistic creations have only recently resurfaced.

This series of six illustrated talks, focussing on the botanical drawings, will lead you into a previously unknown world in London and Canton, which Blake participated in and shaped. It will explore the many meanings of the material results of a rich and unique cross-cultural encounter which continued to reverberate for decades after his death.

Our speakers, who have worked closely together on the Blake drawings and associated, scattered manuscripts and texts (in Chinese and western languages), are experts in the fields of botany, art history, garden history and the history of science; and they come to you from the United Kingdom, the United States and Taiwan.

This ticket is for this individual session and costs £5, and you may purchase a ticket for other individual sessions, costing £5 via the links below (where you may also read more information on the individual talks), or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 6 sessions at a cost of £24 via the link here.

[Due to a recent Apple decision to charge a 30% fee for paid online events unfortunately you may no longer be able to purchase this ticket from the Eventbrite iOS app. Please use a web browser on desktop or mobile to purchase, or follow the link here.]

Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

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Week 1: 7 February: An Englishman Abroad. Part of a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £24.

Week 2: 14 February: From London to Canton and Back. Part of a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £24.

Week 3: 21 February: The Chinese Flora. Part of a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £24.

Week 4: 28 February: Unspoken Questions. Part of a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £24.

Week 5: 7 March: Blake and the Chinese Court. Part of a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £24.

Week 6: 14 March: Panel Discussion. Part of a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £24.

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Week 3. 21 February: John Bradby Blake and Chinese Go-Betweens’ Chinese Flora: A “Joint Endeavour” with Dr. Josepha Richard, Courtauld Institute of Art, UK

When John Bradby Blake arrived in Canton, his goal was already to collect information and seeds on Chinese plants to constitute as complete a Chinese Flora as possible. Armed with reference books from the European botanical tradition and the help of several naturalists based in England, Bradby Blake soon moved to obtain the services of several Chinese go-betweens to facilitate his work. As Bradby Blake declared himself, the incomplete Flora was a “joint endeavour” with his Chinese painter, Mak Sau. To produce the botanical paintings, the latter merged his Chinese artistic training with models such as John Miller’s drawings of the Linnaean Sexual System. Meanwhile Bradby Blake took pains to provide as complete as possible a description of each plant he had selected either in European books or Chinese herbals such as the Compendium of Materia Medica or Bencao Gangmu, with the help of translator(s). The plants were, when possible, grown in the East India Company premises in Canton or Macao, so as to let Mak Sau paint them from nature throughout their growth cycle. This talk will provide an in-depth look into Bradby Blake’s collaborative methods through a couple of specific examples.

Josepha Richard is an art historian with special interest in the art, gardens and urban history of 18th and 19th century Guangzhou (Canton). She is an associate lecturer at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She received an MA in Art History from Paris IV Sorbonne University and an MA in Advanced Chinese Studies from Leeds University (UK). Her doctoral research on Chinese landscape history (University of Sheffield UK) examined the ways that Hong merchants used their private homes and gardens in Guangzhou for social mobility in the global and local context of the Canton System (1757-1842). In 2020 she became the Stacy Lloyd III Fellow at Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Virginia.

Images: © Oak Spring Garden Foundation