Page 31 - Reginald and Lena Palmer Collection EXHIBITION, Bonhams London Oct 25 to November 2 2021

In the Ming and Qing dynasties numerous copies and versions were
made. When the Kangxi Emperor went on his tours to the south, he
saw the Song dynasty version of these images, and thereupon ordered
the painter Jiao Bingzhen to prepare a new set of forty-five paintings
inspired by them, which in turn provided the inspiration for the Palmer
brushpot. Thereafter, in the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods, many
versions of these images were painted at the Court. For example, the
Qianlong Emperor commissioned the ‘Imperial Images of Spinning
Cotton’ (Yuzhi mianhua tu), and the Daoguang Emperor commissioned
‘Images of Silkworm Breeding and Mulberry Growing’ (Cansang tu).

The ‘Images of Farming and Weaving’ were not just depicted in two-
dimensional paintings, but were also copied onto wood, bamboo,
lacquer, ink sticks and jades such as the present brushpot. See related
spinach-green jade brushpots, Qianlong, in the Qing Court Collection,
illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
Museum: Jadeware (III), Hong Kong, 1995, nos.168, 169, and 170. © The Trustees of the British Museum

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