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  • 7/23/2019 Napoleon and Raffles

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    J.M.B.R.A.S.,

    Vol.

    26, pt

    1.

    Plate

    12

    The bustof Napoleon, y Canova, ormerlyn thepossessionf

    Sir Stamford

    affles.

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    Napoleon

    and Raffles 213

    Napoleon and Raffles

    (Received

    ebruary

    53)

    A

    treasured

    ossession

    f Sir StamfordRaffles as his

    bust

    of

    Napoleon by

    Canova. The bust

    is

    still to be seen at a

    house

    in

    Scotland,

    n

    heirloom

    f

    the

    Raffles-Flint

    amily.

    It

    must

    be

    very

    valuable

    indeed. It is natural

    to ask how this

    bust

    came

    to

    be

    made and

    how it

    came into

    Raffles's

    ossession?

    The

    story

    should

    begin,

    logically,

    n

    1717,

    when Antonio

    Canova was born

    at

    Passagno,

    near Treviso in

    Italy.

    He

    was

    brought up as one of a family f stonemasonsbut was sent to

    study

    sculpture

    under

    Torretta at Venice.

    He worked well

    enough

    to

    gain

    a

    scholarship

    rom

    he

    Venetian

    Senate

    and

    went,

    thus

    encouraged,

    o further is studies

    t

    Rome. This

    was

    when

    he

    was

    twenty-three

    too

    late,

    surely,

    o

    have

    benifited,

    s

    he is

    said to have

    done,

    from

    he

    patronage

    f

    Pope

    Clement

    XIV

    who

    died

    in

    1774.

    His

    arrival

    was

    better

    timed,

    however,

    n

    relation

    to

    the

    Venetian

    Pope,

    Carlo

    della Torre

    Rezzonico,

    or

    Clement

    XIII,

    who

    had died

    in

    1769

    and whose

    cenotaph

    n

    St.

    Peter's

    had

    still

    to be

    built.

    Canova,

    his

    apprenticeship

    inished,

    was

    given

    this

    important

    ommission nd

    spent

    five

    years

    in

    excuting

    t.

    His reputation ow firmlystablished s a Neo-Classicalsculptor,

    with

    name

    for

    dignity

    nd restraintnd

    a

    mannerderived

    ome-

    what

    from

    Bernini,

    he

    visited

    Vienna,

    Berlin

    and,

    finally,

    aris.

    The

    year

    of

    this ast

    visit

    was 1802.

    It

    was

    natural

    that

    a

    sculptor

    of

    his

    eminence

    should

    want

    to

    make

    a statue of

    Napoleon.

    It was all

    veryright

    nd

    proper

    to carve the

    classical

    groups

    by

    which Canova

    is

    still

    n

    fact

    best

    known

    Amor

    and

    Psyche

    (now

    in

    the

    Louvre),

    Perseus

    with

    the head of

    Medusa

    (now

    in the

    Vatican)

    and

    The Three Graces

    (now

    perhaps

    slightly

    ut of

    place

    in

    Leningrad).

    But

    Bona-

    partewas morethan a hero of antiquity. He was the conqueror

    of

    Italy,

    the

    modern

    Alexander,

    the

    newly-established

    irst

    Consul of the

    French

    Republic.

    About

    the

    Consulate all

    the

    trappings

    f

    government

    were as classical as the word

    Consul

    itself.

    There

    was a Senate

    and

    there

    were

    soon

    to be

    regimental

    Eagles.

    The furniture

    as

    Grecian

    and

    the dress

    of

    the

    ladies

    was so Hellenistic

    s

    to

    be

    (as

    some

    thought)

    indecent.

    It

    was

    the

    very

    moment

    forclassical

    sculpture

    nd Canova was

    the

    very

    man. There can

    be

    no

    doubt

    that the First Consul

    gave

    him

    some

    sittings,

    or

    that the statue

    n

    the

    Brera

    Palace,

    Milan,

    was

    the chief

    result. But

    it

    was

    not

    the

    only

    result.

    Canova

    evidentlymade several versions, including the bust which

    eventually

    ame into

    Raffles's

    ossession.

    19531

    Royal

    Asiatic

    Society.

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    Napoleon

    and Raffles

    215

    capitulated n SouthAfrica n 1806,was not,of course, French

    general

    a factwhich

    Napoleon

    had

    momentarily

    verlooked.

    He

    gave

    suitable

    ssurances,

    owever,

    nd embarked or

    he East.

    That

    he took

    with

    him

    Canova's

    bust

    of

    Napoleon

    is

    more

    than

    likely,

    and

    that it was a

    gift

    to

    him from

    Louis

    Bonaparte

    s

    at

    least

    possible.

    One can

    imagine

    Louis,

    in

    1810,

    having

    no further

    se

    for

    t.

    The

    bust

    was

    duly

    placed,

    no

    doubt,

    in

    one

    of

    Janssens's

    official

    esidences

    n

    Java,

    ither

    Ryswick"

    n

    Batavia,

    or

    "Beuten-

    zorg"

    in

    the

    country.

    It was there

    here we

    are

    on

    firm

    round

    again when the invasionof Java took place in 1811. These

    stirring

    vents

    eft

    t

    unscathed,

    nd

    it

    was

    evidently

    till

    there

    n

    its

    pedestal

    when

    Mr. Stamford

    affles ook

    the

    place

    of

    Janssens

    -

    still

    there,

    very

    probably,

    when

    the

    defeated Dutch

    General

    dined

    with

    his successor

    n

    17th

    October.

    What

    is

    not clear

    is

    the

    process

    by

    which

    Raffles ame

    to

    regard

    his

    effigy

    s

    his. It

    might

    have been

    through

    gift

    or

    purchase.

    It

    might,

    on

    the

    other

    hand,

    have

    been,

    n

    the modern

    phrase,

    acquired".

    Raffles

    was

    a

    collector,

    s we know.

    As

    against

    that,

    however,

    ooting

    was

    one

    of

    the

    few crimesof

    which Colonel

    Gillespie

    failed

    to

    accuse him.

    Anyway,

    affles

    ame

    to

    possess

    the

    bust

    of

    Napo-

    leon and succeedinggenerations f his familyhave cheerfully

    assumed that he

    stole it.

    The

    question

    remains

    as

    to

    how this

    work

    of

    art

    reached

    England.

    One

    must

    surely

    ssume

    that

    Raffles

    ook

    it

    home

    with

    him

    n

    1816.

    For,

    had

    he

    kept

    t

    at

    Penang,

    ay,

    o

    await his

    return,

    t

    would

    almost

    certainly

    ave been

    lost

    in

    the

    ship

    Fame.

    Apart

    from

    hat,

    t

    is

    a

    question

    whether

    he

    would have

    thought

    the

    effigy

    f

    Napoleon

    a

    suitable

    decoration or

    colonial

    official'

    home. He

    might

    well have

    thought

    ts

    display

    improper

    nd

    unwise.

    If

    we

    presume

    hen

    that the

    bust was

    with him

    on

    the

    homewardvoyage n 1816,we have to conclude that it wentto

    St.

    Helena. It

    was

    probably

    mong

    Raffles's

    aggage

    at the

    very

    moment he

    was

    interviewing

    he exiled

    Napoleon

    at

    Longwood.

    It

    was

    theoretically ossible

    for

    Raffles o remark

    Oh,

    by

    the

    way,

    have

    a

    bust of

    you

    by

    Ganova

    did

    you

    ever

    ee

    it?"

    Quite

    apart,

    however,

    rom

    hat

    awful

    difficulty

    f

    deciding

    whether o

    say

    "Sire"

    or

    "General

    Bonaparte,"

    the occasion

    never

    arose for

    any

    such

    observation.

    Raffles

    ad

    no

    problem

    of

    what to

    say

    for

    the

    good

    reason that

    Napoleon

    did

    all

    the

    talking

    himself. In

    a

    manner

    which

    Captain

    Travers

    thought

    "absolutely

    vulgar."

    Napoleon took up the whole interviewwith questions about

    Raffles

    nd about

    Java,

    mostly

    ttered

    oo

    rapidly

    o

    allow of

    any

    reply.

    This

    is

    rather

    pity.

    How

    much

    more

    fitting

    t

    would

    1953]

    Royal

    Asiatic

    Society

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    216 M.

    W.

    F.

    Tweedie

    have been forNapoleon to see thebust and comment adly Ah.

    I

    was

    younger

    then,

    with

    all the world

    before me.

    And

    now

    "

    But that is

    not

    the sort

    of remarkhe could be

    relied

    upon

    to make.

    And

    the

    bust

    is

    not

    in fact

    very

    ike

    him.

    Prof.

    C.

    NORTHCOTE

    PARKINSON.

    An

    early

    Chinese

    account

    of Kelantan

    (Received

    ebruary

    953)

    A

    book

    entitledHai

    Lu Chu

    (literally:

    eas; records;

    xpla-

    natorynotes) was publishedby the China Commercial Press in

    Shanghai

    n

    July

    938.

    It

    contains

    il

    account

    of

    the

    travels

    f

    Hsieh

    Ching

    Kao

    in

    Asia,

    Europe

    and America

    n

    the

    late

    18th

    century.

    Mr.

    Han

    Wai

    Toon,

    of

    Singa ore,

    very indly ave

    me

    a

    copy

    of

    this

    book and

    pointed

    out a

    passage

    dealing

    with

    the narrator's

    visit o

    Kelantan. Mr.

    Lee

    Kim

    Chuan

    (Public

    Relations

    Depart-

    ment,

    Singapore)

    has

    translated his

    passage

    and

    provided

    ome

    notes

    taken

    from

    he

    preface

    f the

    book.

    Hsieh

    Ching

    Kao

    is

    described

    n

    the

    preface

    as

    the most

    widelytravelledChinese of his own or any previous ime. He

    was

    born in

    1765

    at

    Ka

    Ying

    Chao,

    in

    Kwntung

    Province,

    nd

    went

    to sea

    in

    a

    foreign

    hip

    at

    the

    age

    of

    18,

    spending

    14

    years

    abroad.

    At

    the

    age

    of 31

    he

    became

    blind,

    and

    he

    died at

    the

    age

    of

    57.

    In Macao

    in

    1820

    he

    met

    Yang

    Ping

    Nan,

    and

    expressed

    desire

    to

    have

    his travels

    ecorded.

    Yang

    Ping

    Nan

    performed

    his service

    for

    him,

    and

    in this

    way

    the

    book

    came

    into

    existence.

    The

    translator,

    Mr.

    Lee

    Kim

    Chuan,

    suggests

    "Ching

    Kao's

    Travels" as

    a

    suitable

    English

    title

    for t.

    The

    passage

    relating

    o

    Kelantan

    reads

    as

    follows:

    Kelantanies nthe outh-eastfPatani, hencetcanbe reached

    in

    only

    little

    more han

    day

    f

    sailing

    ith hewind. Its

    land,

    products,

    nd

    the

    customs

    f the

    people

    re similar

    o Patani.

    The

    natives

    re

    Malays.

    The

    land

    s

    under he

    rule

    f

    Siam.

    The Sultan

    lives

    n the own

    where

    hips

    nchor.

    The

    palace

    s built

    with

    amboos

    and

    planks,

    nd

    has

    only

    ne

    door.

    The Sultan nd

    his

    officialsit

    on

    the

    floor

    without

    obes

    r

    shoes,

    d

    look

    exactly

    ike

    the

    common

    people.

    He

    has

    an

    escort

    f a few

    cores

    f

    strong

    en rmed

    with

    spears,

    nown

    s

    Ching

    se,

    or ervants

    n

    Chinese.

    Whenhe

    appears,

    tne

    people

    have

    to

    clasp

    hands

    nd

    stoop

    down

    until

    he

    passes.

    The

    administration

    s

    simple.

    The Sultan

    has his

    court

    aily,

    attended

    y

    Wans,

    nd

    Tuans.

    No

    petition

    s

    required

    n

    legal

    ases.

    Allone

    needs

    o

    do

    is

    to

    carry

    wo andles

    ndenter

    he ourt.

    When

    he

    sees

    he

    andles,

    he

    ultan

    ill

    sk

    bout

    he

    matter,

    ndthe

    erson

    canthentate is ase. After ehasheardtthe ultansks he

    Chin

    Tse to summonheother artyo give heir ideofthestory.The

    Sultan

    hen

    ives

    isverdict.

    f either

    arty

    s

    not

    atisfied,

    r

    f

    t

    is

    impossible

    or he ultan

    o

    give

    verdict,

    he

    ystem

    f

    "submergence"

    /ournal

    Malayan

    Branch

    [Vol.

    XXVI,

    Pt.

    I

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