Part 2 from The Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual (3rd Chinese edition) : [volume 3]

1800 · 13 pictures

This is a Chinese woodblock-printed painting manual, the third edition of The Mustard Seed Garden, dated 1800, issued as part two of its series for amateur painters learning to depict plants and subjects. The pictures show plum blossom branches in ink outline with pale colour washes, and sketched plum studies arranged on the page as models to copy; a designer might take from them the economy of a single flowing contour line, sparse asymmetric composition with open negative space, and the restrained green-and-grey palette.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library