Porcher, Edwin Augustus, 1824-1878, 30. Singapore. General view of the town. November 1851, 1851 November
- Call Number:
- MSS 38
- Holdings:
- [Request]
- Creator:
- Porcher, Edwin Augustus, 1824-1878
- Title(s):
- 30. Singapore. General view of the town. November 1851.
- Date:
- 1851 November
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Series:
- Series I: Drawings
- Part of Collection:
- Oversize 1
- Provenance:
- E.A. Porcher donated 16 drawings related to his Cyrene expedition to the British Museum in 1865. He left his remaining papers and watercolor works to Lieut. Col. Cecil Du Pre Penton Powney (b. 1862), his sister’s surviving son, who donated views, plans and elevations from the Cyrene expedition to the British Museum in 1894. The remaining manuscripts and drawings were inherited by Powney’s daughter, Beryl Wyndham Powney (c. 1896 -1976). Several components of the Porcher collection were sold by private dealers beginning in the 1970s (see 'Related Archival Materials Note' for Porcher holdings in other institutional collections).
- Conditions Governing Access:
- The materials are open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- The collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.
- Scope and Content:
- Singapore is at the crossroads of Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Malacca, Sunda and Lombok Straits, and the South China Seas, which made it a key trading center in the India-China route. This view overlooking the Singapore River was taken from an observation point on Mount Wallich, named after Nathaniel Wallich who founded the settlement’s Botanical and Experimental Garden. Today the view is no longer replicable, as Mount Wallich was levelled in 1885. Significantly, Porcher’s view pre-dates one of the most well-known panoramic paintings of this viewpoint by Percy Carpenter, Singapore from Mount Wallich, 1856. Many of the same structures are visible in both the Porcher and Carpenter: Government Hill and Governor’s House, the colonial residence built in 1822 by G.D. Coleman, which itself provided the colonial administration with an uninterrupted view (most view of Singapore were commissioned from this vantage point). The elevated vantage point also eliminated the unattractive mangrove swamps that dominated low-lying areas. The spires of the Armenian Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator and the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd; the broad esplanade of Telok Ayer street; the Telok Ayer market, also built after designs by Coleman, on the spit of land jutting into the basin (Pieris 43-45; Wong and Waterson 96).
- Additional Notes:
- B1977.14.22232
- Physical Description:
- 1 drawing : watercolor, body color, on medium-thick beige paper, affixed to card mount ; sheet 24.5 x 36 cm, mount 36.5 x 52 cm
- Genre:
- Watercolors (paintings), Pictorial works, Diaries, Letters, and Ships' logs
- Subject Terms:
- Anglo-Burmese War, 2nd, 1852AntiquitiesAntiquities, RomanChronColoniesDescription and travelExcavations (Archaeology)FortificationHarborsHistory, NavalJunksNavigationPagodasPiracyPiratesPunic antiquitiesShipsTemplesVoyages and travels
- Subject Period:
- 1849-18611850-1900
- Associated Places:
- AsiaBurmaCarthage (Extinct city)ChinaChina SeaCyrene (Extinct city)East AsiaGozo Island (Malta)Grand Harbour (Malta)Great BritainGuangzhou (China)Hong Kong (China)MaltaMellieh̳a (Malta)Pulau Pinang (Malaysia : State)Qrendi (Malta)SingaporeTelok Ayer (District : Singapore)Trincomalee (Sri Lanka)Tunis (Tunisia)TunisiaUtica (Extinct city)Valletta (Malta)
- Associated People/Groups:
- Boxer (Ship : 1855-1865)Cleopatra (Ship : 1843)Davis, N. (Nathan), 1812-1882Great Britain. Royal NavyHarpy (Ship : 1845-1909)Hibernia (Ship : 1804-1902)Kertch (Ship)Melville, Harden Sidney, active 1837-1882Porcher, Edwin A., 1824-1878Porcher, Madelina
- Finding Aid Title:
- Edwin Augustus Porcher Collection
- Collection PDF:
- https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/19.pdf
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/2826
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/2826?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1