A chance to visit The King's Observatory in Richmond, built by George III in 1769 to observe the transit of Venus. Its current owner made his money in shipping in the Far East, and has put into his dining room a marvellous 18th century painting showing the foreigners' areas of Hong Kong. It's an enlarged reproduction that fits the room exactly, painted on silk by contemporary artists in Wuxi, and is full of detail -
wonderful and idiosynchratic. I wonder does sitting systematically at all sides of the table get you seeing the full layout.
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