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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