Hand Colored Engraving by T. Allom: Loading Tea Junks At Tseen-tang

Crates, boats, and busy hands crowd a hillside landing

This hand colored engraving is from London, England, United Kingdom, and is dated 1843. It is ink on paper. Printmaking carried enthusiasm for the Orient beyond a small circle of patrons, because publishers and artists produced illustrated books on travel and religion that could be distributed affordably to all classes. Tinted by hand, a riverside scene with figures sorting packed boxes in the foreground, a boat at right, and a terraced hillside town stretching behind. Hazy blue ridges close the distance. It is 10.5 inches wide and 7.7 high.

Plenty of loading is happening, with very little arguing.