Cleveland Museum of Art

Westlake Panorama

Date

mid-1700s

Medium

One of four woodblock 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

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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