A contingent of East India Company soldiers marches in formation down the flank of Government Hill (Fort Canning from 1900) towards the Plain in this print (steel engraving). The Court House with its twin turrets is visible; behind it is the Singapore River in the background and warehouses on the southern bank. Also in the background, the bustling harbor is filled with three-rigged sailing vessels, junks and smaller sailing boats of local traders. Although this print appeared in the second edition of ‘China Illustrated’, published in 1858, prompted by a renewal of interest in the East following the Opium Wars (1839-1842), it was probably made earlier, in 1839, when artist C. Graham came to the East. The engraver, Albert Henry Payne (181-1902), worked from 1838 as a steel engraver, painter and illustrator in Leipzig, where he died in 1902.
