Marble Boat (detail) – Summer Palace, Beijing

The Marble Boat rests on the edge of Kunming Lake, a stone hull with carved paddle wheels carrying two decks of arcades, coloured glass and painted stone imitating marble. Built in 1755 under Qianlong as the Boat of Purity and Ease, it was burnt in 1860 and rebuilt in 1893 for Cixi with a Western-style superstructure.