The reception of the diplomatique & his suite at the Court of Pekin [graphic]

"The Emperor of China (left) reclines on a mattress on a low dais, smoking a long pipe and contemptuously watching, out of his slit-like eyes, Lord Macartney, who kneels on one knee, holding out the King's letter, which is signed 'GR \ WP [Pitt] Sec.' The Emperor emits a puff of smoke from a twisted mouth in a subtly insulting manner. Behind him stand two impassive mandarins, their folded hands concealed in their voluminous sleeves. Beside the dais (right) stands a soldier in armour, holding a sword in his clasped hands. The Chinese have pointed beards and moustaches, and long claw-like fingernails. Over the dais is an ornate canopy in the manner of a Chinese pagoda, ornamented with a dragon. Macartney, wearing the insignia of the Bath, kneels in profile to the left, indicating with his left hand a number of presents which have been placed at the Emperor's feet. Five members of his suite prostrate themselves behind Macartney, their heads touching the floor so that their faces are hidden and the backs of their breeches are ludicrously conspicuous. Behind are others bringing presents, the two most prominent are identified as Sir George Staunton, secretary to the Embassy, and Huttner, who published a German account of the expedition. Staunton, who is not caricatured but does not conspicuously resemble his portrait (by Engleheart, 1792, engraved C. Picart), stands full face behind Macartney, holding the string of a toy balloon decorated with the royal arms, to which is attached, in place of a basket, a cock standing on a pair of breeches. Huttner holds a magpie in a wicker cage. Men crowd behind them carrying, one, a toy coach complete with six horses, driver, postilion, &c, the whole on a small wheeled platform; another, a rocking-horse; a third holds a weathercock in one hand, a British flag in the other. The objects on the ground are: a volume of 'Boydell's Shakespeare' on which is a rat-trap; a bat, trap, and ball, dice-box and dice, a battledore and shuttlecock (on which is a crown); an oval miniature of George III, to which is attached a child's coral and bells; a toy windmill; a magic-lantern with a 'slider' (cf. BMSat 6287) which projects at each side showing devils, in the lantern is a figure of Punch; the model of a man-of-war flying a British flag, and an E.O. table."--British Museum online catalogue