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Plate 6.2 Seals and signature on Portrait of an Official in Plate 6.3 Anonymous, Fishermen in a River Gorge (Xigu yufu 溪谷漁父), Ming
Front of the Beijing Imperial Palace. Signed Fengxi 豐溪; dynasty, 1522–66. Signed Zhu Bang 朱邦; seal in relief ‘Seal of Zhu Bang’ (Zhu
seal in relief ‘Seal of Zhu Bang’ (Zhu Bang zhi yin 朱邦之 Bang zhi yin 朱邦之印); Seal in intaglio ‘Old Woodcutter of Mount Jiulong'
印); seal in intaglio ‘Sleeping soundly without dreams (Jiulong shanqiao laosou 九龍山樵老叟). Hanging scroll, ink and colours on
leisure seal’ (Hanhou wumeng xian zhang 酣齁無夢閒章) silk, image height 159.5cm, width 100.5cm; with mount height 290cm, width
130.5cm. British Museum, London, 1912,0529,0.3

As early as the Spring and Autumn period (771–476 bce), construction. Huang Ming ji lüe 皇明紀略 (Brief Records of the
artisans from the area participated in building the palace of August Ming) records that:
the King of Wu 吳王 (528–473 bce). Kuai Xiang’s father In the capital there is a Vice-Minister Kuai’s Alley. Kuai was a
Kuai Fu 蒯福 is said to have managed major official native of Xiangshan of the Wu region and a carpenter. During
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building projects. At the beginning of his reign, the the Yongle reign, he was summoned to build the Great Inner
Hongwu 洪武 emperor (r. 1368–98) relocated artisans from (imperial palace). Every hall and elevated building, as well as
around the empire to Nanjing in order to construct a new winding corridors and bent eaves, he could draw by free-hand,
imperial palace at the capital. One of the most important all of which matched the emperor’s intentions. He reached the
groups was from Xiangshan. The Wu region was the base position of the Vice Minister of Works, and his descendants
continued his work.
from which the Ming conquered China, so most of the
artisans working for the Ming imperial court came from 京師有蒯侍郎衙衕，蒯為吳香山人，斲工也，永樂間召建大內，
there. Because of this, the imperial palaces in both Nanjing 凡殿閣樓榭，以致回廊曲宇，隨手圖之，無不稱上意者，位至工
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and Beijing came to be constructed under the supervision of 部侍郎。子孫猶世其業。
the Xiangshan group. The young Kuai Xiang followed his Legends about Kuai Xiang say that he could
father into the carpentry trade, very quickly mastering the simultaneously draw a pair of dragons facing each other
necessary skills, including the mortise and tenon technique, using both hands and they would match perfectly when
and how to calculate the amount of materials needed for folded. The Ming palace in Beijing was modelled on the

58 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450