Peter Parker Collection

During his first trip to China Parker made the acquaintance of the Western trained Chinese painter, Lam Qua. Throughout the 1820's Lam Qua studied under the patronage of George Chinnery, the first English painter to settle in China. His training and the level of mastery he developed enabled him to become one of the most revered Chinese painters utilizing the Western style of portraiture. As a result of his talent, he developed a sizable clientele from the Western community within as well as outside of Asia.

The most celebrated body of work by Lam Qua is the impressive collection of portraits, commissioned by Peter Parker in the 1830's, of patients at the Canton Hospital. These startling and somewhat gruesome paintings of pathological subject matter provide the viewer with unsettling insights into the more unusual cases Parker treated during his tenure in China. One of the most noticeable aspects of each portrait is the expressionless look on the subjects' face. The lack of expression turns the viewer's eye from the subjects' face to their pathology, or illness. Each subject appears to express neither pain nor sadness and serves as a testament to the human spirit in the face of physical adversity.

Images displayed here represent the body of Lam Qua's work held in the collection of the Medical Historical Library at Yale University. The portraits are of men, women, and children of a variety of ages and at various stages in the progression of their tumors. Entries about each portrait have been taken from Peter Parker's journals when available; otherwise, they are accompanied by descriptive material provided by Karina Corrigan, Jack Lee, and William Strole, M.D. under the auspices of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Supplemental information has also been provided by Stephen Rachman Ph.D.