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Duck boat
The image shows a duck boat. Duck-raising was a very common means of livelihood for the population of the Pearl River delta. The boat was specially designed to raise and transport ducks. The duck boat is characterised by a bamboo platform on each side of the boat. According to the Panyu gazetteer, "The duck farmers keep the ducks in boats, and these are called 'duck platforms'. Each platform can accommodate 3200 ducks. For every thousand ducks, three people keep watch over them. Each morning, they are riven onto the shore to graze. In late autumn, when the ducks turn fat, they are transported to Canton city to sell, or kept to lay eggs, or turned into preserved duck. In terms of animal husbandry, this is the largest category for our area". In the image, there is one farmer leaning against the end cabin.
Height: 250 mm
Width: 337 mm
Method of acquisition: Unknown by Unknown
19th Century
Circa
1840
-
Circa
1870
Chinese
Chinese export art
Chinese export watercolour
Watercolour
Bodycolour
White highlights
Ink
Support composed of pith paper
Drawing : Watercolour, bodycolour and ink with heightening in white on pith paper
Accession number: 4173.12
Primary reference Number: 185662
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Paintings, Drawings and Prints
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
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IIIF Manifest
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Duck boat" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/185662 Accessed: 2025-03-27 21:29:53
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/185662
|title=Duck boat
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-03-27 21:29:53|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-185662
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp82/4173_2812_29_201106_amt49_dc2.jpg"
alt="Duck boat"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Duck boat</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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