This woodblock is from the Ten Bamboo Studio Painting and Calligraphy Handbook, which is the best known of the early color-printed block books published in China, and the first of the painting manuals to use color. The first edition of the Ten Bamboo Studio Handbook was published in 1627, and consisted of sixteen volumes on eight different subjects, the most celebrated being plum, orchid, bamboo, rock, and fruit. Although these volumes could conceivably be used to study painting, they are primarily objects of beauty enjoyed among Chinese scholars.

The handbook was originally commissioned by Hu Zhengyan, who was an amateur calligrapher, painter, and seal carver. Engaged in a printing business in Nanjing city, he befriended many late Ming scholar-artists in the area. It was his understanding of literati aesthetics and the cultural milieu from which he came that led him into making such pioneering prints of delicate cut, refined lines, and harmoniously blended colors.

Of the eight subjects of the Ten Bamboo Studio Handbook, the plum and bamboo manuals—from which most of these prints are taken—are of the finest quality. Flowering plum, branches of bamboo, together with pine trees have been favorite subjects of scholar-artists since the Song dynasty. These plants, being unbowed in the face of harsh weather, are to be read as emblems of the moral rectitude possessed by Chinese scholars.


(For Grades K-2)

What do you see in this picture?

What colors do you see in this woodblock?

Which types of lines do you see in this woodblock?


(For Grades 6-8)

Identify and discuss all of the elements of art found in this painting. (Color, shape/form, line, texture, space and value).

How does a print differ from a painting? Is this print balanced?

Why or why not? Is it symmetrical? What might the symbols and the Japanese calligraphy on this print mean?