The Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual : [volume 4] (Japanese reprint)

Wang, Gai, active 1677-1705 · 1753 · Kyoto: Kōnanrō 江南堂; Kōnan shirōuemon 江南四郎右衛門; and Osaka: Onoki Ichibei 大野木市兵衛; Edo: Nishimura Genroku 西村源六 · 13 pictures

The Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual, volume 4, is a Japanese reprint of a Chinese landscape painting instruction book, issued in 1753 by publishers in Kyoto, Osaka and Edo for artists and students. Its pages are woodblock-printed double spreads of ink landscapes, with waterfalls, cliffs, pines and distant pavilions drawn in clean, economical outline and light grey wash. A designer might take from them the simple line vocabulary of rock, water and foliage, shown as a set of reusable motifs with Chinese captions beside each study.

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