A Collection of Lively Sketches [Of Flowers and Insects] of the Ming Dynasty (Minchō shiken) : [volume 2]

Ōoka, Shunboku, 1680-1763 · 1746 · Japan : [producer not identified] · 13 pictures

A Japanese woodblock-printed album of flower and plant studies, compiled by Ōoka Shunboku and published in Japan in 1746 as the second volume of a series of sketches after Ming-dynasty models. The pages are hand-tinted, with sparse brushed ink outlines of stems, leaves and blossoms set against open cream paper, and the calligraphic inscriptions beside them show the sketches were meant as a model book for painters and craftsmen. A designer can take from them the economy of line, the loose asymmetric placement of blooms on empty ground, and the flat, limited palette of pink, violet and green.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library