Plate 103: Water Summer House, from "A New Book of Chinese Designs"

Plate 103 of 'A New Book of Chinese Designs', consisting of a title page, index, and 120 plates, etched and published in 1754 by the British caricaturist, printseller and ornamental engraver Matthew Darly, in collaboration with George Edwards. The book consists of a variety of ornamental and costume designs of Chinese inspiration, some of them copies of the original works (including the title).

This plate consists of a design for a water summer house, which stands on a platform on the water, with stairs on the front. Directly above the stairs is a central chamber with the doors to the house, framed by two columns on each side and scrolling motifs on the upper arches, each with two marble panels. The ceiling is made up of scrolling leaves, and above it is a terrace with rails with geometric motifs and a canopy with scrolling edges and hanging bells. A smaller canopy is above it, with even more scrolling leaves, and flanked by a statue on each side. The central chamber is flanked to each side by a smaller chamber with a window with geometric pattern, surrounded with scrolling leaves, with ceiling with scrolling tips and a small canopy above it, and a smaller vault with a simple canopy above an arch. The side chambers are surrounded by rails with geometric designs that fence the platform on which the house stands. On each corner is a man fishing with a cane.