Imperially Commissioned Illustrations of Riziculture and Sericulture

Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Kangxi period (1662–1722)

Illustrated by Jiao Bingzhen (act. 1680–1720), with poetic inscriptions by the Kangxi emperor (1654–1722; r. 1661–1722) in upper margins; engraved by Zhu Gui (ca. 1644–1717) and Mei Yufeng (fl. 1696)

Beijing: Wuying dian, 1696

Album of 46 leaves, woodblock printed on paper, mounted between wooden boards covered with brown patterned silk brocade; each leaf: approx. 34.7 x 27.8 cm; block size of illustrations: approx. 24.4 x 24.4 cm

Inventory number: 14921

This album was based on a set of 45 poems and pictures (21 on rice cultivation and 24 on rearing silkworms) composed by the official Lou Shu (1090–1162) for the Southern Song court around 1145.

This group of images depicting two of imperial China's most important economic activities were subjected to a much heightened level of recension during the early Qing dynasty.  The Kangxi emperor commissioned the court artist Jiao Bingzhen to produce an updated set, to which he would contribute a preface and poems to accompany the 46 pictures equally divided between the two sections.  After the initial printing of this revived Gengzhi tu in 1696, many other imperial and popular editions appeared in China as well as a number of versions printed in Korea and Japan.  It also found expression in the decorative arts and provided motifs for China's domestic and export porcelain industries, some of which even appeared in numerous European prints, engravings, and watercolors.