Temple De Buddha - Borget c.1842

Title: Temple de Bouddha, Faubourg de Honan à Canton
Artist/Lithographer: Auguste Borget (Drawn by) / Eugène Cicéri (Lithographed by)
Published: Paris, c. 1842
Technique: Tinted lithograph with original hand-coloring

Description: This exquisite plate is from Auguste Borget’s celebrated work, La Chine et les Chinois (China and the Chinese). It depicts the famous Ocean Banner Monastery (Hoi Tong Monastery) located in the Henan (Honan) district of Canton (Guangzhou). Borget, a close friend of the novelist Honoré de Balzac, spent ten months in South China, and his sketches are noted for their sensitivity and lack of Western caricature.

The scene captures the sprawling, elegant architecture of the temple complex, characterized by its distinctive sweeping roofs and decorative ridge-poles. In the foreground, the composition is anchored by an ancient, gnarled tree under which monks in saffron robes and local inhabitants engage in quiet activities, including tending to a cow. The play of light and shadow, combined with the delicate hand-coloring, evokes a peaceful, atmospheric quality that was highly praised by Borget's contemporaries.

• Authenticity: Original mid-19th-century tinted lithograph.

• Cultural Context: Provides a rare visual record of one of Canton's most important religious sites before the urban transformations of the late 19th century.

• Artistic Quality: Borget’s work is considered a peak of French romantic lithography, known for its soft textures and realistic architectural detail.