Original woodblock print from the collection of writing and pictures from the TEN BAMBOO HALL
China. 18th cent.
26,5 x 29,5 cm
Perforated by erosion, bizarrely formed rocks were exceptionally popular decorative objects for the garden in China and, according to Taoist beliefs, the holes were animated by living spirits. One paid for such pieces (the best came from Taihu Lake) high prices. Also the Ten Bamboo Hall displayed some characterful examples. This stone is red-brown to blackish; it is virtually rearing up and could actually render as exciting modern sculpture.
Lit.: Albertina, Nr. 50; Zacke II, Illus. 31 Illustrated in The earliest Chinese color woodblock prints. Ten Bamboo Hall and Mustard Seed Garden.
From the former collection Wilhelm and Walter Exner, Bad Wildungen, in the 1970′s from Walter Exner directly acquired.
The first exhibition with the most beautiful examples from the works Ten Bamboo Hall and Mustard Seed Garden was presented by Gallery Zacke, 1975 (Collection Exner). Further exhibitions were then 1990 (Collection Exner) and 1995 (Collection Henri Vever, Paris).
Ten Bamboo Hall and Mustard Seed Garden were names of studios, which specialized in color art prints, at the time a worldwide debut! Both titles are, by the way, abreviations. The whole name: SHI-ZHU-ZHAI SHU-HUA-PU, Ten Bamboo Hall (exacter: ?Studio“) and after “calligraphy (and) painting“ (Shu-Hua) as well as Pu (register, handbook), therefore “Collection of Calligraphies and Paintings from the Ten Bamboo Hall“
The Mustard Seed Garden′s complete title is JIE-ZI-YUAN HUA-ZHUAN. Jie-zi-yuan is the Mustard-Seed-Garden (in same succession), Hua > painting and zhuan mean novel or “distribute“, therefore “Handbook of Painting from the Mustard Seed Garden“.
From both works were several editions at different times. Today they are altogether due to different brands and other influences quite rare; some sheets are extreme rarities. (Winzinger presumes worldwide only about 900 color prints.) The only to date known, large collections of Chinese woodblock prints are those of Exner (later Gallery Zacke), Vever (Paris), in part offered as well from Gallery Zacke and Winzinger (presented in the Albertina, Vienna 1975, Collection Winzinger).
The Ten Bamboo Hall had the first edition 1633, the first “ big“ edition 1643. Head of this studio was Hu Zhengyen, born 1582, who employed 30 artists in his studio in Nanjing. In 8 volumes, Ten Bamboo Hall brings the most diverse thematic groups - orchids, bamboo, plum blossms, round fans, rocks, fruits and birds. Volume 1 is mixed.
The Mustard Seed Garden was also created in Nanjing, the first parts from 1677 and 1679, the last only printed black-and-white 1818. The publisher was Shen Xinyou, who assigned the production to the painter Wang Gai. The Mustard Seed Garden is more didactic, was more popular due to its light diversity and story-telling manner, thus made good business over a long time for the publishing house..
With individual pictures, it is no light task to recognize to which work a sheet is attributed. Binding, format, edges, calligraphy and motifs are the decisive criteria. When text is added to a picture, it is mostly involved with short poems, as a rule, which show only a distant connection to the depiction.
Expertise: Wolfmar Zacken