Page 89 - Made For Trade Chinese Export Paintings In Dutch Collections

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this system was everyday practice. 126 Copying other societal domains, that Cantonese painters,
the work of selected old masters was a good and who worked as part of a mass production line,
illustrious way of learning to paint. Already, in regarded this as a normal way of working. For
the fifth century AD, the Chinese figure painter them, the art was in the shortening and the
and critic Xie He (also known als Hsieh Ho), accelerating of the production process. The
formulated six principles of Chinese painting. division of labour meant that painting, but also
Number six reads ‘Transmission by copying’ or casting bronzes, making porcelain and
“the copying of models, not only from life but lacquerware, weaving silks, building temples
also the works of antiquity.” 127 For Chinese and pagoda’s and writing poems, had little to
painters, the process of ‘transmitting’ was often do with the Western concept of creativity.
88 experienced as a personal action at various Rather, the creative aspect was about high levels
levels. For that reason, as stated in the of production and in thinking about how to
introductory text to the in 2008 organised increase the speed, so that the production
exhibition The traditon of re-presenting art: process could be shortened. 130 After all, in the
orginality and reproduction in Chinese painting Pearl River delta the paintings had to be
and calligraphy, “some artists are very faithful in produced during the trading season. In addition
their imitation, while others add their own to meeting this challenge, we can assume that
interpretation or that of others.” 128 Although the artistic input of the individual painter was to
this exhibition at the National Palace Museum make a reproduction that accurately reflected
displayed showpieces of early Chinese master the commissioned image(s). Ting, for example,
painters and their followers, this explanation fits emphasises that the artistic value primarily
very well with the working methods of Chinese depended on the complexity and accuracy of the
export artists. The high demand for export scene and the high quality of painterly
paintings was largely responsible for the execution. Painting had become a purely human
standardisation and the copying of scenes. mechanical act. 131 How this method of dividing
Whether it was with oil paint or watercolour, or up the work for a painting happened is recorded
whether it was on canvas, wood, paper or glass, by Lavollée, a member of the French trade
the Chinese export painters used templates, grids mission in China between 1843 and 1846, after
and pattern books and divided the labour in his visit in 1844 to Lamqua’s studio in Old
order to meet the massive demand. This China Street:
immense demand for paintings and images may
have led to the employment of ‘substitute La peinture, en Chine, n’est pas un art, c’est une
brushes’ (assistants) at the studios of, amongst véritable industrie dans laquelle la division du
others, the famous painters for Western travail est parfaitement entendue. Le même
customers like Puqua, Lamqua, Sunqua, peintre sera toute sa vie des arbres, tel autre des
Tingqua, and Youqua, who could reproduce the figures, celui-ci les pieds et les mains; celui-là les
master’s style of brushwork for less discerning costumes. Chacun acquiert ainsi, dans son genre,
customers. 129 une certaine perfection, surtout pour la rectitude
In China, as Ledderose recalls, no great du trait et le fini des détails; mais nul ne serait
contradiction was or is seen between an original capable d’entreprendre un tableau d’ensemble. 132
artwork and a newly made reproduction, in the
way that Westerners see this. It is likely, because This quote, which demonstrates the old-
of their familiarity with module-production in fashioned Western trope, is an example of the

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126 Ledderose 2000, 206. Cheng Zhengkui (1604-1676) painted some 300 landscape scroll paintings, all with the
same title, Dream Journey among Streams and Mountains (Jaingshan woyutu). The popular Painting Manual of the
Mustard Seed Garden (jieziyuan huazhuan) is also a good example of this.
127 http://arts.cultural-china.com/en/62Arts13915.html.
128 http://www.npm.gov.tw/exh96/re-presenting/intro_en.html. This exhibition in Taipeh was to be viewed from
1 January to 25 March 2008.
129 Clunas 1997, 94.
130 Ledderose 2000, 7.
131 Ting 1982, 11.
132 Lavollée 1853, 361. Translation: Painting in China is not an art, it is an industry in which the division of labour is
commonplace. One artist makes trees all his life, another figures; this one draws feet and hands; that one
costumes. Thus, each acquired a certain perfection, particularly in the straightness of the line and the finish of
details, but none of them is capable of undertaking an entire painting.