Cleveland Museum of Art

Westlake Panorama

Date: mid-1700s
Medium: One of four wood-block prints; ink on paper; printed with three woodblocks in shades of black
Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong reign (1736–95)
Department: Chinese Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 678440

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Revived by the southern imperial inspection tours, West Lake imagery became a popular subject during the early Qing dynasty. This panorama is composed of four prints, showing the Ten Scenes of the West Lake in Hangzhou along with other sights. The vanishing point perspective and the hatching lines that depict shading, water, or sky derive from European copperplate prints, introduced by missionaries to China, and were celebrated novelties in 18th-century Suzhou prints. These prints also reached Europe to furnish 18th-century palace interiors. Woodblock printing in color reached a height in China in the 1600s to 1700s. The prints were executed by means of sets of separate blocks, each carved to print a different color.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Provenance: ?–2025: (Christer von der Burg, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) | 2025–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH