Page from the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy
first edtion printed in 1633
Medium
Polychrome woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
9 3/8 x 10 3/4 in. (23.8 x 27.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
China · Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Kangxi period (1662–1722)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1924
Accession Number
CP87
Art Historical Context
This exquisite page comes from Hu Zhengyan’s Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy, first published in 1633. Created during the late Ming dynasty and reprinted in the Kangxi period of the Qing, the manual stands as a landmark achievement in Chinese printmaking. Hu, a scholar-artist and innovative printer, compiled the work to preserve and teach traditional techniques of brushwork and composition. The polychrome woodblock print medium allowed artists reproduce delicate ink washes and layered colors on paper with remarkable precision. Each page demonstrates the sophisticated regi...
About the Artist
Hu Zhengyan · 1584–1634
Hu Zhengyan (胡正言, c. 1584–c. 1674) was a Chinese artist, publisher, seal-carver, and printmaking innovator who lived through the turbulent transition from the Ming to the Qing dynasty. Born in Xiuning in Anhui province, he eventually settled in Nanjing, where he established his home and workshop on a hill within the northern city wall and named the property the Ten Bamboo Studio, or Shizhuzhai, af...