Title: Editions of Biographies of Women as Examples of Printed Illustrations from the Ming Dynasty
Abstract: Three commercial editions of Lienu zhuan (Biographies of Women) printed between Huizhou 徽州and Nanjing 南京around the year 1600 are illustrated: they offer good examples for understanding the publishing world and the xylographic production of illustrations in Jiangnan 江南at the end of the Ming dynasty. These books are the Xinjuan zengbu quanxiang pingling gu Lienu zhiuan 新鐫增補全像評林古列女傳printed by Tang Fuchun 唐富春 in Nanjing, in the late 1580s; the Gu Lienu zhuan 古列女傳published around 1606 also in Nanjing (and/or Huizhou); and an illustrated and enlarged version made at the beginning of the 17th century by the Zhecheng Tang 貞誠堂, probably in Huizhou. This article does not attempt an exhaustive bibliographic study of these editions, but concentrates on their printed images and the characteristics of those images, trying to understand what these woodcuts can explain about their conception, production and reception. Moreover, these Ming dynasty works are not isolated examples: they constitute elements of a wider production of images dedicated to the hi stories of exemplary women in narrative painting and printed illustration, that will continue into the Qing. This article also focuses on two important editions of the last dynasty, which are reproductions of older illustrated versions. They are both included in very important collections: the Huitu Lienu zhuan 繪圖列女傳, a reprint included in Zhibuzu zhai congshu 知不足齋叢書 by Bao Tingbo 鮑廷博(1728-1814) at the end of the 18th century; and the Xinkan gu Lienu zhuan 新刊古列女傳 edited by Ruan Fu 阮褔(1802-?) and included in Wenxuan lou congshu 文選樓叢書 (ca. 1825).
Publication Year: 2010
Publication Date: 2010-06-01
Language: en
Type: article
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