明 胡正言 《十竹齋書畫譜》 四開 木版畫|Page from the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy
first edition printed in 1633
Medium
Individual leaf from a printed book; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
9 15/16 x 11 9/16 in. (25.2 x 29.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
China · Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1924
Accession Number
CP117
Art Historical Context
This page comes from Hu Zhengyan’s Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy, first printed in 1633 China’s Ming dynasty. Hu, a scholar, publisher, and artist based in Nanjing, compiled the manual as an instructional guide for aspiring painters and calligraphers. Its innovative use of multi-block color woodblock printing allowed delicate gradations of ink and subtle hues to be reproduced on paper, a technical achievement that made high-quality color illustrations widely available for the first time in Chinese printed books. The manual’s artistic significance lies in its blend of pr...
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...