A colored print of William Alexander's original engraving titled "A Quan or Mandarin Bearing a Letter from the Emperor of China" from the official report on the British Macartney Embassy to China that took place between 1792 and 1794. It was written after the return to England by the Secretary to the mission Sir George Leonard Staunton, 1st Baronet (1737 to 1801), based on his own observations and published in London by W. Bulmer for G. Nicol in 1797. William Alexander (British, 1767 to 1816) was a painter, illustrator and engraver. The hallmarks of his work, usually executed in watercolours, were clearness and harmony of colour, simplicity and taste in composition, grace of outline, and delicacy of execution.