A Collection of Lively Sketches [Of Flowers and Insects] of the Ming Dynasty (Minchō shiken) : [volume 1]
A Japanese woodblock-printed album of flower and insect studies by Ōoka Shunboku, published in Japan in 1746 and aimed at painters and students copying botanical motifs. The pictures are hand-coloured pages of plants, blossoms and rocks in soft greens, reds and pale yellows, drawn with economical black ink outlines and set on open white paper with Chinese inscriptions, offering a designer quiet, spare botanical patterns.
![Picture 1 of 6 from A Collection of Lively Sketches [Of Flowers and Insects] of the Ming Dynasty (Minchō shiken) : [volume 1] (1746), leaf 5](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17284-5-1.webp)
![Picture 2 of 6 from A Collection of Lively Sketches [Of Flowers and Insects] of the Ming Dynasty (Minchō shiken) : [volume 1] (1746), leaf 7](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17284-7-1.webp)
![Picture 3 of 6 from A Collection of Lively Sketches [Of Flowers and Insects] of the Ming Dynasty (Minchō shiken) : [volume 1] (1746), leaf 9](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17284-9-1.webp)
![Picture 4 of 6 from A Collection of Lively Sketches [Of Flowers and Insects] of the Ming Dynasty (Minchō shiken) : [volume 1] (1746), leaf 10](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17284-10-1.webp)
![Picture 5 of 6 from A Collection of Lively Sketches [Of Flowers and Insects] of the Ming Dynasty (Minchō shiken) : [volume 1] (1746), leaf 16](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17284-16-1.webp)
![Picture 6 of 6 from A Collection of Lively Sketches [Of Flowers and Insects] of the Ming Dynasty (Minchō shiken) : [volume 1] (1746), leaf 20](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/met-p16028coll7_17284-20-1.webp)