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Pic: Gorringes/BNPS

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Centre stage - Humes British 'Hong' or warehouse is in the middle of the concession.

One of the earliest depictions of the historic Canton waterfront has emerged for sale 250 years after it was commissioned by British trader Alexander Hume.

The stunning 9ft long scroll painting that is one of the earliest depictions of European trading warehouses on the Canton waterfront in China, and is set to sell for £80,000.

The previously-unknown landscape work showing the waterfront factories of Britain, Holland, France, Sweden and Denmark along with European and Chinese traders was produced in about 1765.

It was commissioned by Alexander Hume, the supercargo or factory manager for Britain's East India Company that traded in commodities like cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, tea and opium in the Far East.

The work is being sold by Gorringes of Lewes, East Sussex, on October 23.