Audio Guide

Waterfall at Aberdeen is the earliest work in the Museum of Art's collection depicting Hong Kong's landscape. Hong Kong was a small and desolate island in 1816 when Lord Amherst led a trade mission from Britain to China. The ships of the Amherst Mission anchored in Hong Kong waters on their journey to Beijing in order to stock up on supplies of fresh water. The painting, attributed to the mission's artist William Havell, depicts the ship's crew setting out towards the waterfall, which is today believed to be located in Waterfall Park at Wah Fu Estate.