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the original paintings were not accessible, Chapter One’s visual images were woodblock

illustrations drawn by a certain Zheng Xiu ቍᾕ from Yunshan Village ᘾʆ. Most likely,

Zheng Xiu the sketch artist drew the images based on the information on porcelain

manufacturing presented in Tang Ying’s Taoye tushuo that Zheng Tinggui abridged.

Whereas Tang Ying wrote the textual explanations after the completion of the paintings,

Zheng Xiu’s woodblock illustrations were images based on Zheng Tinggui’s extractions

from Tang Ying’s famous annotations. Thus, the Tao lu’s compilation was a process by

which the images succeeded the text rather than preceded the text. Zheng Tinggui’s

explanations were meant to supplement the visuals, without which the texts’ meaning

might have seemed incomplete for readers. Indeed, one might see this as a case where

the images give meaning to the text. Nevertheless, the flow of knowledge indicates a

process whereby, in the absence of original court paintings, a series of textual

explanations in turn spawned new images of porcelain production. These woodblock

illustrations were reprinted in later editions of the book and served as the basis for the re-

illustrations in Stanislas Julien’s 1856 French version and the late Meiji period (1868-

1912) Japanese translation published in 1907.

The illustrations of Tao lu’s first chapter are different from the drawings in

Tiangong kaiwu in that their content matter specifically concerns the porcelain-making

process and presents the process in a narrative step-by-step sequence like the Taoye tu set.

Since it drew heavily from Tang Ying’s step-by-step explanations in Taoye tushuo, the

Tao lu’s first chapter presented its visual illustrations in a sequential order, much like

such sets of paintings with courtly origins as the Gengzhi tu and the Qianlong-

commissioned album of twenty leaves, Taoye tu. Despite drawing heavily from Tang