Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden

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Photograph of pages from book depicting instructions for drawving leaves
Teaching how to draw leaves

Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden (Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "lang".), sometimes known as Script error: No such module "lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".), is a printed manual of Chinese painting compiled during the early-Qing Dynasty. Many renowned later Chinese painters, like Qi Baishi, began their drawing lessons with the manual. It is an important early example of colour printing.

The work was commissioned by Shen Xinyou (Script error: No such module "Lang".), whose mansion in Lanxi, Zhejiang province was known as Jieziyuan, or Mustard Seed Garden. Shen possessed the teaching materials of Li Liufang (李流芳), a painter of the late-Ming dynasty, and commissioned Template:Ill(Script error: No such module "Lang".), Wang Shi (Script error: No such module "Lang".), Template:Ill (Script error: No such module "Lang".), and Zhu Sheng (Script error: No such module "Lang".) to edit and expand those materials with the aim of producing a manual for landscape painting. The result was the first part of Script error: No such module "lang"., published in 1679, in five colours. It comprises five Script error: No such module "lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".) or fascicles. Li Yu, as the publisher, wrote a preface for this part. The first fascicle deals with the general principles of landscape painting, the second the painting of trees, the third that of hills and stones, the fourth that of people and houses, and the fifth comprises the selected works of great landscape painters.

Scan of page from book depicting lotus flowers drawing
"Script error: No such module "lang". Lotus Flowers", Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual
Scan of page from book depicting instructions for drawing people
Teaching how to draw people

The volume also entered Edo period Japan, where woodblock printed copies became relatively easily accessible in all the major cities; the Mustard Seed Garden Manual came to be used by Japanese Script error: No such module "lang". artists and was an important element in the training of Script error: No such module "lang". artists and the development of Script error: No such module "lang". painting.[1]

Two more parts, which deal with the painting of flora and fauna, were produced by Wang and his two brothers and published 1701. Shen promised a fourth part, but never published it. A fourth part, which deals with portraits, was produced by some quick profit-seeking publisher, though. Chao Xun (Script error: No such module "Lang".) (1852–1917), dissatisfied with the fake, produced his own sequel, as well as carefully reproduced the first three volumes. Reprints of the first three volumes are usually based on Chao's reproduction.

An English translation of the work, The Tao of Painting – A study of the ritual disposition of Chinese painting. With a translation of the Chieh Tzu Yuan Hua Chuan or Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting 1679–1701, was made by Mai-mai Sze and published in New York in 1956.

References

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External links

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