Lot 214 , Lieutenant Leopold G. Heath for the Hydrographic Office, Hong Kong as seen from the anchorage of HMS Iris, 1846, set of three steel engravings, visible sheet 22 x 79cm

Lieutenant Leopold G. Heath for the Hydrographic Office
Hong Kong as seen from the anchorage of HMS Iris, 1846
set of three steel engravings
three panoramic views with locations identified, numbered 1696a, b and c, Hydrographic Office of the Admiralty, 1847 [but later]
visible sheet 22 x 79cm
£400-600
The earliest Admiralty survey of Hong Kong harbour was carried out in 1841. This set of three panoramas was commissioned as a companion to the survey, drawn by Lieutenant (later Admiral) Leopold Heath in 1846 and published in 1847. Taken from a vantage point aboard HMS Iris anchored centrally in the harbour they combine to form an overlapping 360-degree panorama of the harbour, one of the very earliest (and among the most important) delineations of the town and harbour.

Condition:
All three in good clean condition, albeit with some degree of even paper discolouration, light and even undulation of the paper so apparently not stuck down, looks to be printed on a fairly lightweight paper and some small creases and flaws showing around the edges of the mount, overall visible sheets vary from 18 x 79cm for sheet b, 22 x 78.5cm sheet a and 25 x 79cm for sheet c, relatively recent plain card mounts and silvered wood frames which are a little scuffed, one with top bar of the frame coming loose, Gallerie du Monde of Hong Kong label verso.

Sold for £600