Three prints: Zhang Qian Chances upon Douniu Celestial Palace; The Twenty Four Paragons of Filial Piety; A Scene of Early Spring

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Three prints: Zhang Qian Chances upon Douniu Celestial Palace; The Twenty Four Paragons of Filial Piety; A Scene of Early Spring

張騫誤入斗牛宮; 二十四孝; 早春圖

1723–95

China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Yongzheng reign (1723–35) to Qianlong reign

(1736–95)

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Medium

Three polychrome woodblock prints bound into a booklet; ink and color on paper

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2025.92

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

Woodblock printing in color reached its height in China in the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries. It was executed by means of sets of separate blocks, each carved to print a different color.

Description

In the 1600s, printing flourished in such Jiangnan cities as Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Huizhou, evolving from privately enjoyed illustrated books printed in color to more commercialized single-sheet color prints that were hung on walls and became part of the rich urban visual culture.