Gengzhi
tu, 'Pictures of Tilling and
Weaving', hand-coloured woodblock
prints
China
1696
The original Gengzhi tu was compiled by Lou
Shou (1090-1162) during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). It was first
published around 1237 and contained 45 illustrations - 21 scenes of
tilling and 24 on the cultivation of rice - accompanied by poems.
The depiction of agricultural and sericulture scenes was seen both
as a reference to practical farming and as a metaphor for a
well-ordered Confucian
society.
Many subsequent
emperors produced new editions of these illustrations. The British
Museum's edition was commissioned by the Kangxi Emperor
(1662-1722) and produced in 1696 by the court painter Jiao
Bingzhen. It is also known as the Yuzhi (imperial) Gengzhi tu,
which refers to the emperor's sponsorship of the work as
well as his contribution to
it.
Above each illustration
are seven character quatrains (poems) that were originally thought
to have been composed and written by the emperor. It is now
generally thought that they were composed by scholars at court and
written in imitation of the Emperor's style of
hand-writing.
Jiao Bingzhen
was employed in the Imperial Board of Astronomy. He was one of the
first Chinese artists to study Western perspective under European
missionary artists also serving on the board. Their influence is
evident in his illustrative
work.
It is not known
whether Jiao ever saw the original Song Dynasty Gengzhi tu
illustrations. But he may have seen a Chinese Ming (1368-1644)
edition based on a Song original preserved in Japan, where it was
reprinted in 1676.
J. Rawson, Chinese jade: from the Neolith (London, The British Museum Press, 1995, reprinted 2002)
J. Needham, Science and Civilization in Ch (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1965)
S. Edgren, Chinese rare books in American (China House Gallery, China Institute in America, 1984)