清 王槩 設計，李漁出版 芥子園畫傳 版本|Landscape after Xia Gui (active ca. 1195–1230), from the Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting

Wang Gai

First edition, 1679 · Woodblock print; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

In 1679, the playwright, author, and garden designer Li Yu published a primer for amateur painters called the Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting. The manual’s images and texts impart a sense of famous masters’ styles and how to reproduce them. The designs for the prints were prepared by Wang Gai, as he had the versatility required to paint in a range of manners. The manual was extremely successful and became the most widely used book of its type not only in China, but in Japan and Korea as well. Today, many painters still use it as a starting point.

Artist

Wang Gai

Date

First edition, 1679

Medium

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1924