DOI chapter:
Essays
DOI chapter:Ning, Yao: Propagating the Confucian Virtues: Chinese Artists in Serialized Printed Portrait Books
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70035#0034
Propagating the Confucian Virtues
Fig. 9: Image of Shi Jin woodblock
printed playing card, 1620-1652, accor-
dion binding, 14,2 x 26 cm, Chen Hong-
shou, National Library of China
Fig. 10: Cui Bai M : Magpies and Hare
Hanging scroll, 1061, Ink and color on silk,
National Palace Museum Taipei, Taiwan
Guang's name after a while of engraving according to the inscription. Zhu Gui
(active in the seventeenth century), who once served at the imperial court, was the
engraver of the print. Due to its extraordinary and partly eccentric anecdotes and the
vividly depicted figures, this book has been reprinted numerous times throughout
several centuries. Many of the figures can be found on countless porcelain pieces
until today.
It is worth noticing the representation of the movement taken by An Min. In the
seventeenth century, Chinese artists reconsidered art and the aesthetics of the past,
searching for new ways of representation. Naturalistic depictions became a driving
concern for the artists. On the woodcut, the warrior Shi Jin whose nickname
was Jiuwenlong Nine Tattooed Dragons, looks to his right with his back
towards the viewers (Fig. 9). Chen Hongshou has vividly caught a transitory moment
representing the outlaw Shi Jin with dragons tattooed on his back. Shi Jin was a
27
Fig. 9: Image of Shi Jin woodblock
printed playing card, 1620-1652, accor-
dion binding, 14,2 x 26 cm, Chen Hong-
shou, National Library of China
Fig. 10: Cui Bai M : Magpies and Hare
Hanging scroll, 1061, Ink and color on silk,
National Palace Museum Taipei, Taiwan
Guang's name after a while of engraving according to the inscription. Zhu Gui
(active in the seventeenth century), who once served at the imperial court, was the
engraver of the print. Due to its extraordinary and partly eccentric anecdotes and the
vividly depicted figures, this book has been reprinted numerous times throughout
several centuries. Many of the figures can be found on countless porcelain pieces
until today.
It is worth noticing the representation of the movement taken by An Min. In the
seventeenth century, Chinese artists reconsidered art and the aesthetics of the past,
searching for new ways of representation. Naturalistic depictions became a driving
concern for the artists. On the woodcut, the warrior Shi Jin whose nickname
was Jiuwenlong Nine Tattooed Dragons, looks to his right with his back
towards the viewers (Fig. 9). Chen Hongshou has vividly caught a transitory moment
representing the outlaw Shi Jin with dragons tattooed on his back. Shi Jin was a
27