Landscapes of Taiping Prefecture ('Taiping shanshui tu')

This important collection of woodblock-printed landscapes originally reproduced forty-three compositions (of which thirty-nine remain) designed by Xiao Yuncong [Hsiao Yün-ts'ung], a Ming loyalist painter from Anhui province. Opening with a panorama of Taiping prefecture (in central Anhui) the album continues with views of scenic spots in its three districts: fifteen views from Dangtu, fourteen from Wuhu, and thirteen from Fanchang. Xiao inscribed each scene with a poem by a famous poet and noted which ancient master's style he used to depict it. The printing process rendered his techniques flat and schematic, increasing the archaic flavor of the landscapes. This copy of the work circulated among Japanese Nanga painters of the eighteenth century, offering models of landscape that greatly influenced the development of that school.