Mother and Sons
1766
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1766
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Mother and Sons is a 1766 by Unknown, a Baroque work, depicting Qianlong Reign, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a woman in a blue robe sitting on a carved chair, two boys beside her, all against a plain background. Delicate flowers and birds decorate the edges. This painting was made during the Qianlong reign in China, when woodblock printing in color was at its best. Each color came from a separate carved block, pressed one after another. The artist’s name is lost, but the work feels personal—like a family portrait. To see more like it, look up *qing dynasty (1644–1911)*.
Woodblock printing in color reached its height in China in the 1600s to 1700s. It was executed by means of sets of separate blocks, each carved to print a different color.
In the 1600s, printing flourished in such Jiangnan cities as Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Huizhou, evolving from privately enjoyed illustrated books printed in color to more commercialized single-sheet color prints that were hung on walls and became part of the rich urban visual culture.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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