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Copyright/attribution: © P&O Heritage Collection
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"Women Drawing Water"
AC/02321/00
Object category: PAINTING
Date made: c.1850s
Maker: Attributed to HENRY FITZCOOK
Material/medium: Watercolour on paper heightened with white bodycolour
Dimensions:
- sight: 20.8 x 31.3 cm
Close to Suez, and far from the Nile and all other sources of water, the water in Joseph's well was 'brackish' and poor in quality. Women were responsible for collecting water and used the opportunity to gossip and "set no value on time"! (Taken from an album of thirty-one watercolours, recording the Diorama of the Overland Mail Route from Southampton to Calcutta, and presented to Brodie McGhie Willcox, one of the founding fathers of P&O.)