Without watercraft, the Canton Trade could not have taken place. It is therefore not surprising that so many of the scenes depicted in paintings of that trade are set on the water, and that in these scenes, boats, junks, and East India ships figure so frequently and so abundantly.
The works are executed in a variety of media, including oil, gouache, and watercolor; supports range from canvas, pith paper, and silk to ivory, copper, and brass, depending on the medium. Paintings feature a wide range of settings, of which four were particularly popular with the artists’ clientele: the Praia Grande of Macao, the Bocca Tigris, the anchorage at Whampoa, and the riverfront outside the hongs at Canton. A basic composition, with some variation over the decades, may be noted for each of the four. However, scenes on the water were not the only works in which watercraft played an essential role; ship portraits and sets on pith paper showing types of Chinese craft were also in demand.