Rice Boat From Outside the River
1810
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1810
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Rice Boat From Outside the River is a 1810 paint by Unknown, a Realism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
The painting shows a boat carrying rice on a river. It's one of many boats on the water. The boat is special because it's carrying goods from other provinces, which locals called "outside the river". This painting is part of a set of 50, all showing different types of boats. They were made to be souvenirs. The paintings give us a glimpse of what the river looked like back then. You can learn more about this style by looking at the technique of chiaroscuro.
The painting depicts a rectangular rice boat navigating the Pearl River, characterized by a solid, beige-toned cabin and a bent, two-part triangular mast forming a wide "v" shape. Part of a set of 50 mass-produced souvenir images, it illustrates the dense water traffic described by Lord George Macartney, the first British ambassador to China, who noted the river's constant habitation by boats of all sizes.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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