Description
Exacting little French watercolor diagram of the implements of opium smoking; the Chinese pipe (in this case "Demi-grandeur", or half-sized), the lamp for heating the opium, and the iron opium spoon-rod.
The image is undated, nor does the wove paper on which it is drawn have a watermark, though we roughly date it to the time of the Second Opium War to later in the 19th century.
The drawing is an exacting rendering of an unusual subject, the likes of which we have not seen before.
Opium was widely consumed in East Asia in the 19th century, spurred by European and American intermediaries, and to some extent, its use extended to Europe, though largely in the form of the alcoholic tincture of laudanum.
Condition Description
Small remnants of mounting paper on the corners of the verso.