Chinese Classic Painting Albums

Binding: Parallel folding with bookcase

An Album not only represents a traditional binding approach
in ancient China, but also refers to a special format of ancient
Chinese paintings. It was a common practice for ancient Chinese
painters to bind small-size paintings into Albums, which were
easy to shelve and carry outside the home. In the Ming and Qing
Dynasties, calligraphy and painting albums evolved into a spiritual
pursuit for the literati - well-educated officials who occupied a
high position in society. These social elites took pleasure in the
visual delight of leafing through an album, image by image.

This collection has selected four albums by Ming and Qing painters,
namely, The Ten Ten-thousand Paintings by Ren Xiong, The Figures
and Stories by Qiu Ying, The Landscape, Birds & Flowers by Yun
Shouping and The Various Paintings by Chen Hongshou, all of
which are now displayed in the Palace Museum of Beijing. Some
of them depict the picturesque scenery of the royal palace; others
portray historic events, fables, traditional stories, or delineate
the grandeur of mountains and lakes. The albums' bright colors
perfectly express the essence of flowers or the perfect line and
form of birds. Every painting is analyzed in a clear-cut way in the
hope that readers can experience the unique and subtle charms of
traditional Chinese paintings gathered in these traditional albums.