The Water Lily Boat Lands Ashore at TwilightChiao Ping-chen (fl. 1689-1726)Ch’ing Dynasty (1644-1911) Four young women are helping one another ashore from a water lily boat that has just landed at the bank. (The term “water lily boat” could refer either to a small craft for viewing the blossoms or for picking the plant’s edible seeds.) Above them the pavilion on the water is shaded from the midsummer heat by an airy awning of willow branches. This academy painting, the third leaf in Chiao’s album Paintings of Women, reflects the confluence of Chinese and Western painting techniques. The pavilion and stairway have been drawn according to a focused perspective; the various elements of the painting are imbued with three-dimensionality and are placed in a setting expanded by the use of spatial depth. The women’s faces and hands have rounded shape and form. Chiao Ping-chen, a native of Chi-ning, Shantung, served as a painter in the Inner Court. As he once worked in the Imperial Board of Astronomy, which was often staffed with European Jesuits, he had the opportunity to study Western concepts of painting with the Belgian Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-1688). Chiao’s works reflect this occidental influence.