Imperially
Commissioned Illustrations of Riziculture and Sericulture
Qing
dynasty (1644�1911), Kangxi period (1662�1722)
Illustrated
by Jiao Bingzhen (act. 1680�1720), with poetic inscriptions by the Kangxi
emperor (1654�1722; r. 1661�1722) in upper margins; engraved by Zhu Gui (ca.
1644�1717) and Mei Yufeng (fl. 1696)
Beijing:
Wuying dian, 1696
Album
of 46 leaves, woodblock printed on paper, mounted between wooden boards covered
with brown patterned silk brocade; each leaf: approx. 34.7 x 27.8 cm; block
size of illustrations: approx. 24.4 x 24.4 cm
Inventory number: 14921
This
album was based on a set of 45 poems and pictures (21 on rice cultivation and
24 on rearing silkworms) composed by the official Lou Shu (1090�1162) for the
Southern Song court around 1145.
This
group of images depicting two of imperial China's most important economic
activities were subjected to a much heightened level of recension during the
early Qing dynasty.� The Kangxi emperor
commissioned the court artist Jiao Bingzhen to produce an updated set, to which
he would contribute a preface and poems to accompany the 46 pictures equally
divided between the two sections.� After
the initial printing of this revived Gengzhi tu in 1696, many other imperial
and popular editions appeared in China as well as a number of versions printed
in Korea and Japan.� It also found
expression in the decorative arts and provided motifs for China's domestic and
export porcelain industries, some of which even appeared in numerous European
prints, engravings, and watercolors.
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