Oyster Shells Boat

This painting is from a set of 50 depicting the different types of boats that cluttered the Pearl River. It shows a boat transporting oyster shells, which, because of their rough surface, were pasted on the exterior walls of residential houses as a security device. Paintings such as this one were mass-produced as souvenir items.

Lord George Macartney (1737-1806) was the first British ambassador to China. His description of the setting reads: 'the river of Canton is covered with boats and vessels of various sorts and sizes, all, even the very smallest, constantly and thickly inhabited'.