Page 101 - Bonham's Asian Art London November 2015

242 This series of images depicting the cultivation Many subsequent emperors produced new
A SET OF FOURTEEN EXPORT and harvesting of rice is based on the editions of these illustrations. See an example
PAINTINGS DEPICTING THE Chinese tradition of Gengzhi tu, ‘Illustrations in the British Museum (ref:1949,0709,0.1)
CULTIVATION OF RICE of Ploughing and Weaving’. The first known commissioned by the Kangxi Emperor (1662-
Late 18th century example dates to the Song Dynasty and is 1722) and produced in 1696 by the court
Ink and colour on silk, depicting the various attributed to the artist Lou Zhou (1090-1162). painter Jiao Bingzhen. It is also known as the
stages of cultivation, harvesting and storage The depiction of agricultural and sericulture Yuzhi (imperial) Gengzhi tu, which refers to the
of rice, mounted. scenes was seen both as a reference to emperor’s sponsorship of the work as well as
38cm x 31cm (15in x 12.1/4in). (14). practical farming and as a metaphor for a his contribution to it.
well-ordered Confucian society. In the 18th century the Gengzhi tu were
£4,000 - 6,000 popularly produced for Western buyers
CNY39,000 - 58,000 and adapted to Western taste, illustrating
HK$47,000 - 71,000 scenes such as tea, silk, cotton and porcelain
production.

ASIAN ART | 99