Multi-colour woodblock print. China, early Qing-Dynasty, prior to 1692
This is one of the extremely rare pages, which were acquired by the prominent doctor and explorer Engelbert Kaempfer (1651 – 1716) in Nagasaki, Japan, then brought to Europe and later found way into the famous Vever collection in Paris. These so-called “Kaempfer-prints†are the first large-format colour prints worldwide, originate from Suzhou (not far from Shanghai) and were produced by the family Ding. It is estimated that only around 100 Kaempfer-prints survived. 29 pages are in the British Museum, London. The second largest set of Kaempfer-prints was in the Vever collection, which Galerie Zacke acquired in 1995, then presented and published in its own exhibitions. All except for three pages went to a museum collection. One of these three pages, published in “Die Kaempferdrucke aus der Sammlung Veverâ€, Edition Zacke, Vienna 1995, page 62, we are able to offer anew today. The depiction shows a blue-yellow tit, sitting on a branch with large spherical Snowball-blossoms. Further renditions show branches and flowers of the plum tree. Left above is an inscription saying that “the jade of the Jing-mountain produces a perplexing shadow play†(reference to an old legend) and that “the plum-blossoms captivate with their magnificenceâ€. Very good state of preservation and best-retained original colour*, with passe-partout.
* A scientific study on the astonishing endurance of the Ding-print’s colours was written by Arthur Sachse in “Asiatische Studien XXXIIâ€, Bern 1978
PAINTING 26 x 36 CM
From a Viennese collection