Thomas Todd

Sculptor Tan-Che-Qua was already well-known to British merchants in China when, in 1769, he sailed for London. On arrival, he quickly became a celebrity. King George III granted him an audience and he became the first Chinese artist to exhibit at the prestigious Royal Academy of Arts. Tan made portrait figures, like this one of tea merchant Thomas Todd, from unfired clay. The faces were modelled from memory and the features achieve a startling photographic realism. Lack of suitable clay supplies may have led to his return to China in 1772.

Thomas Todd moved to London from Sunderland in north England in his early twenties. Here he established himself in business, selling tea, along with pills, ointments and other medicines, with premises in Fleet Street. Despite trading in tea from China, Todd may never have dealt directly with traders there. That relationship was handled by the British East India Company.