By 1826, Singapore had become the most important port of call for Siamese junks trading within the Malay Archipelagio. Items such as sugar, sapanwood, elephant tusks and gamboge (a yellow pigment) from Siam (Thailand) found their way to Europe by way of Singapore. Singapore also conducted a thriving regional trade with Siam and Cochinchina (southern Vietnam), and, until the 1860s, there was a steady stream of junks from both countries sailing to Singapore each year on the northeast monsoon, bringing items such as rice, sugar and salt. Siamese junks were similar to Chinese junks, and Francois-Edmond Paris, the artist, could have been looking Chinese junks instead, as this rendering shows the characteristic hull of Chinese junks painted at the top and the sterns painted with two circles to look like eyes.
