Page 209 - Bonhams Cornette Saint Cyr, Property from the estate of Jean-Pierre Rousset (1936-2021)

Although originally Suzhou was one of many centres of woodblock
printing, including Nanjing, Hangzhou and Xin’an, the banning
of vernacular literature during sporadic periods of the early Qing
dynasty forced many woodblock carvers and printers from other
centres to move to wealthy Suzhou for new opportunities. No longer
limiting themselves to book illustration, they extended their work to
independent single-sheet pictures, and in much larger dimensions,
such as the present lot.
The Ding clan ran a print workshop in Suzhou in the Jinchang 98
district and specialised in subject matters such as flowers, fruits and
birds. See a related example of a lotus flower and bird print by Ding
Liangxian, first half 18th century, illustrated in The Printed Image in
China: from the 8th to the 21st centuries, London, 2010, p.82.
十八世紀上半葉 蘇州丁氏木刻版畫 一組兩幅

來源：
巴黎Robert Rousset（1901-1981）舊藏
巴黎Jean-Pierre Rousset（1936-2021）舊藏

99
ENSEMBLE DE SEPT ESTAMPES DU MANUEL L’ATELIER DES
DIX BAMBOUS
XVIIIe/XIXe siècle

SEVEN WOODBLOCK PRINTS FROM TEN BAMBOO STUDIO
18th/19th century
Ink and pigment on paper, the largest 34cm (13 3/8in) wide x 27cm
(10 5/8in) long; together with six prints of flowers and insect, and four
prints of chrysanthemums (Ju pu) 29.5 (11 5/8in) wide x 26cm
(10 2/8in) long. (17).
€5,000 - 8,000

Provenance:
Robert Rousset, Paris (1901-1981)
Jean-Pierre Rousset, Paris (1936-2021)
With the growth of population, wealth, literacy and mobility in Ming
dynasty China, cities such as Nanjing and Suzhou became centres for
the educated scholar and wealthy merchant classes, and for printing.
Scholars who could not find employment as officials at Court sought
to enhance their reputation through costly individual print projects and
initiated colour printed manuals. Commercial workshops on the other
hand responded to the demands of the urban population for novelty
by producing sets or single-sheet prints, often emulating the culture
of the elite. As C.Von Spee wrote, ‘Colour printing reached a level of
perfection in the early seventeenth century. Outstanding examples are
Ten Bamboo Studio Collection of Calligraphy and Painting (c.1633)...
and single-sheet prints of birds, flowers, insects and antiquities printed
and signed by members of the Ding clan in Suzhou’; see The Printed
Image in China: From the 8th to the 21st Centuries, London, 2010,
p.18.
The Ten Bamboo Studio Collection of Calligraphy and Painting, is the
earliest picture collection in China to be printed in colour and the first
to include isolated illustrations of subjects such as plants, flowers,
birds etc. The Ten Bamboo Studio was the name of the residence
of Hu Zhengyan in Nanjing. He was an accomplished scholar in ink
making and seal carving, as well as calligraphy and painting, who
initiated the production of the manual. See related examples of prints
from the Ten Bamboo Studio Collection of Calligraphy and Painting,
illustrated in Ibid, pp.72-75.
十八/十九世紀 十竹齋木刻版畫 一組七幀

來源：
巴黎Robert Rousset（1901-1981）舊藏
巴黎Jean-Pierre Rousset（1936-2021）舊藏

99