Well executed and highly atmospheric watercolours capturing the importance of the river for trade in early nineteenth century China.

A fine group of unusual and very attractive depictions of river life. Typically with the river in the foreground with a finely executed drawing of a native boat, the backgrounds showing landscape scenes interspersed with occasional architectural details.

The Pearl River is so named because of the pearl-colored shells that lie at the bottom of the river in the section that flows through the city of Guangzhou. Formerly often known as the Canton River, it is an extensive river system in southern China. The name 'Pearl River' is also often used as a catch-all for the watersheds of the Xi ('West'), Bei ('North'), and Dong ('East') rivers of Guangdong. These rivers are all considered tributaries of the Pearl River because they share a common delta, the Pearl River Delta. Measured from the farthest reaches of the Xi River, the Pearl River system is China's third-longest river, 2,400 kilometres, after the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and second largest by volume, after the Yangtze.

Pencil, water colour and body colour drawing of craft, heightened with white on paper watermarked 'J Whatman 1804' and '1805'. Framed and glazed, overall size: 67.8cm by 57.3cm.