A watercolour by William Alexander (1767–1816), official draughtsman on Lord Macartney's historic 1792–94 British embassy to the Imperial court of China. Alexander's watercolours of the embassy – among the first firsthand European depictions of the Chinese interior – established his reputation and were widely reproduced as engravings.

This view records the ceremonial pavilion built at Tientsin to receive Macartney's delegation, a scene Alexander later described in his own written account of the journey.

Born in Kent in 1767, William Alexander was briefly apprenticed to Julius Caesar Ibbetson (1759-1817) in London before enrolling in 1784 at the Royal Academy Schools. In September 1792 Alexander embarked on what was both his first major professional commission and his life's greatest opportunity: Lord Macartney's embassy to China... [Full essay on the China embassy and the sitting is available at the Wayback URL - not reproduced here in full.] A version of the present watercolour (signed with initials, inscribed and dated 1793, 6 x 8 ins.) was sold at Sotheby's London on 1st April 1976 (lot 12).