A captivating set of five China Trade watercolors, painted in Canton around 1850, each one a little portrait of a different vessel from the bustling waterways of the Pearl River. There’s a stately seagoing junk with battened sails and a watchful eye painted on its prow, a houseboat with turquoise fretwork worthy of a jewel box, a yellow-paneled passenger boat trailing pennants, a cargo boat stacked with crates, and — the conversation piece of the group — a floating duck farm, its flock of tiny ducks paddling in every direction. The paintings are worked in watercolor and gouache on pith, the delicate, translucent sheet often called rice paper, which holds the pigment on its surface so the colors seem lit from within. Cantonese studios made these as luxurious souvenirs for the sea captains and merchants of the China Trade, and complete sets in this condition, with their color intact, have become genuinely hard to find. Each is framed in gilt with a deep teal-green mat — ready to hang as they are. Hang all five in a grid or a column for an instant gallery wall — they’re made for a stair hall, a study, or above a sofa in a room that leans classic or coastal. The teal mats play beautifully with blue-and-white porcelain, grasscloth, and warm wood, and the maritime subject brings quiet charm to a hallway or a gentleman’s office. (Ref: NY9666-iimr)