Westlake Panorama
Unknown Artist
mid-1700s
Medium
One of four woodblock prints; ink on paper; printed with three woodblocks in shades of black
Dimensions
image: 34.6 × 55.2 cm · paper: 38 × 59.3 cm
Classification
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
J.H. Wade Trust Fund
Accession Number
2025.82.2
About this artwork
Revived by the southern imperial inspection tours, West Lake imagery became a popular subject during the early Qing dynasty. This panorama is composed of four prints, showing the Ten Scenes of the West Lake in Hangzhou along with other sights. The vanishing point perspective and the hatching lines that depict shading, water, or sky derive from European copperplate prints, introduced by missionaries to China, and were celebrated novelties in 18th-century Suzhou prints. These prints also reached E...