清 王槩繪圖、李漁出版 《芥子園畫傳》 木版畫|Page from the Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting
first edition, printed in 1679
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
9 5/8 x 11 13/16 in. (24.4 x 30 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
China · Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1924
Accession Number
CP30
Tags
Art Historical Context
This page comes from the influential *Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting*, first published in 1679 during China’s Qing dynasty. Compiled by the scholar-publisher Li Yu and illustrated by the artist Wang Gai, the manual served as an accessible guide to traditional Chinese painting techniques. Its woodblock-printed pages, enhanced with delicate ink and color, allowed aspiring artists across social classes to study composition, brushwork, and color application without needing a personal teacher. The manual is especially celebrated for its systematic approach to landscape painting, breaking d...
About the Artist
Wang Gai · 1645–1710
Wang Gai (王概, 1645–1710), a prominent Qing dynasty painter from Xiushui in Zhejiang province, established himself in the vibrant cultural hub of Nanjing, where he flourished from around 1677 to 1705. Born into a scholarly family—his father-in-law was the renowned writer Li Yu (1611–1680)—Gai trained under the master Gong Xian (1619–1689), one of the Eight Masters of Jinling, adopting his robust la...