Page 143 - Bonhams Asian Art London November 5, 2020

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It is extremely rare for Suzhou prints to emerge in the market. The three prints in the present lot in fact belong to two themed sets of
Produced in the 17th and 18th century, these rare surviving examples prints: the print depicting a mother and scantily clad children in play
offer a compelling glimpse into the aesthetics of the period and are represent a scene of Summer in a series about the ‘four seasons’;
considered major landmarks in the history of Chinese printmaking. the other pair depicts warmly clad children at play during New Year
celebrations. The New Year print has an inscription:
The city of Suzhou was China’s wealthiest metropolis when the Qing
dynasty was at its zenith. Urban affluence nurtured popular art and 姑蘓信德號
culture and resulted in the creation of new types of woodblock prints 麟兒集慶新年瑞
from the Kangxi through the Qianlong period. The commercial print
studios of Suzhou produced innumerable works for the New Year Which may be translated as:
celebrations and other festive events, as well as non-occasional prints,
all of which are known today as Suzhou prints. Xinde Hao [Studio] of Gusu [Archaic name for Suzhou]
The children of the Qilin coming together to celebrate the New Year.
Although originally Suzhou was one of many centres of woodblock
printing, including Nanjing, Hangzhou and Xin’an, the banning The other panel depicting the summer scene has the following
of vernacular literature during sporadic periods of the early Qing inscription:
dynasty forced many woodblock carvers and printers from other
centres to move to wealthy Suzhou for new opportunities. No longer 鳳子歡呼樂歲終
limiting themselves to book illustration, they extended their work to 吳門管□寫
independent single-sheet pictures, and in much larger dimensions.
Which may be translated as:
Suzhou prints are stylistically unique and more artistically refined than
the ordinary so-called ‘New Year prints’ (nianhua). Suzhou was not The children of the phoenix call out in joy at the year’s end
only the wealthiest city but had also been a cradle of both literati and Guan of Wumen [Archaic name for Suzhou]
professional artists, as well as an urban centre than had welcomed
Western culture since the Ming dynasty, giving it everything it needed Examples of these prints produced by the same studio, Xinde Hao,
to facilitate the production of both unique and popular prints. The including the three prints in the present lot, can also be seen in the
present lot encapsulates the influence of the West with single-point Esterházy Palace, Hungary, and Château de Filières, France, where
perspective and chiaroscuro shadows - elements at the time which they were used as wallpaper or attached to folding screens; see Xu
would have been seen as completely foreign and exotic. Wenqin, ‘Chinese images in 18th century European wall decorations
and wallpapers’, Review of Culture, Issue 99, Macau, 2016, pls.169-
During the Yongzheng and early Qianlong reigns, Suzhou print studios 171, figs.14-19. For recent scholarship on these uncommon prints see
began to produce large monochrome prints to which bright colours Gao Fumin, Kang Qian shengshi Suzhou ban, Shanghai, 2014 and
were often applied by hand. Innovative artists in Suzhou printmaking Zhang Ye, The Study of Western-Influenced Gusu Prints 洋風姑蘇版研
chose new subjects and themes including cityscapes, popular scenic 究, Beijing, 2012.
or tourist spots in Suzhou and other areas, imaginary sites with
historical or cultural associations, and compositions reflecting the life
and culture of the literati. See C.Von Spee, The Printed Image in China:
from the 8th to the 21st centuries, London, 2010, pp.36-41.

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