Leaf from the Imperially Commissioned Illustrations of Agriculture and Sericulture
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.In China emperors and empresses traditionally inaugurated the season for agriculture and sericulture in state rituals that acknowledged the importance of these activities to the prosperity of society. This print comes from an album with forty-six illustrations on the cultivation of grain and silk. It was commissioned by the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662–1722) and designed by Jiao Bingzhen after a twelfth-century model, with the addition of the emperor’s poem and seals.
Artwork Details
- Yuzhi gengzhi tu
- Title: Leaf from the Imperially Commissioned Illustrations of Agriculture and Sericulture
- Artist: Jiao Bingzhen (active ca. 1680–1720)
- Artist: Zhu Gui (Chinese, (ca. 1644–1717))
- Artist: Mei Yufeng (Chinese, active 1696)
- Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
- Date: preface dated 1696
- Culture: China
- Medium: Woodblock print from an album of 46 leaves; ink on paper with hand coloring
- Dimensions: Image (single page): 16 1/4 x 10 9/16 in. (41.2 x 26.9 cm)
Overall (open book): 16 3/4 x 21 7/8 x 1 5/16 in. (42.5 x 55.5 x 3.4 cm)
Book cover: 16 15/16 x 11 5/8 in. (43.1 x 29.5 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: On loan from the British Musuem- Donated by Sotheby's
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art