English School, early 19th Century

These two views, dated by Dr John Bastin from photographs to c.1800, and by Keat (also from photographs) to as early as the late 1780s, are amongst the earliest known views of Penang, the Malaysian Peninsula territory claimed by the British and founded by Captain Francis Light in August 1786. For a survey of early views of Penang, see Datuk Lim Chong Keat's Penang Views 1770-1860, Penang, Singapore, 1986, and the watercolour attributed to Ensign Caldwell, Christie's, 27 Sept. 1996, lot 80.