Bidspirit auction | Three Pages by Hu Zhengyan

Three Pages by Hu Zhengyan from the Book Shi-zhu-zhai Shu-hua-pu - Three pages by Hu Zhengyan from the book Shi-zhu-zhai Shu-hua-pu China, probably 19th/20th century. Paper, woodblock print; a later reprint. Calligraphy. Three double leaves from the book Shi-zhu-zhai Shu-hua-pu (The Painting and Calligraphy Manual of the Ten Bamboo Studio). Dimensions: 24 × 25.8 cm; 24 × 25.5 cm; 24 × 24.5 cm. Passe-partout dimensions: 42 × 32 cm. Condition: slightly browned. Hu Cheng-Yen (Hu Yuecong / Hu Zhengyan, 1582-1674) was a Chinese painter, seal carver, and pioneering multi-color woodblock artist of the transitional period from the Ming to the Qing Dynasty. He is best known for founding the Ten Bamboo Studio and creating some of the most influential print artworks in Chinese history. The Shizhuzhai Shuhuapu is one of Hu Zhengyan's famous works. Compiled and printed in the late Ming Dynasty, it is an illustrated painting and calligraphy album that also serves as a textbook, teaching painting techniques that students can learn by tracing. The work is divided into eight main categories and contains both Hu Zhengyan's own works and reproductions of masterpieces by thirty significant artists from antiquity and the Ming period. Each section includes about twenty paintings, each accompanied by poems or inscriptions in excellent calligraphy - a total of 180 paintings and 140 calligraphic works. From the first volume (1619) to the eighth volume (1633), the printing of the Shizhuzhai Shuhuapu spanned a period of fifteen years.