'Camel Transport', 1900

Watercolour en grisaille by Johann Nepomuk Schonberg (1844-1913), 1900.

Bactrian camels sitting feeding in a courtyard with Indian sepoys on guard and Chinese servants drawing water from a well.

During the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 the foreign legations in Peking (Beijing) were besieged by nationalist rebels of the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists (or 'Boxers' as the Europeans came to call them), aided and abetted by Chinese Imperialist forces. A multinational force eventually relieved the besieged European and Japanese forces. This force included the 1st (The Duke of York's Own) Regiment of Bengal Lancers, 1st Regiment of Sikh Infantry, Punjab Frontier Force and the 7th (Duke of Connaught's Own Rajputs) Regiment of Bengal Infantry.

Schonberg was an Austrian war correspondent and artist. He served in the Austrian Army in the 1860s. He supplied sketches to the 'Illustrated London News', eventually relocating to England. As well as the 3rd China War (Boxer Rebellion), Schonberg covered many other conflicts, including the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) and the Boer War (1899-1902).