Displaying Prints of Suzhou beauties in European Houses.
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
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| Description | This lecture introduced a collection of Suzhou (Gusu) woodblock prints now kept at Slatiňany, which once embellished a Chinese parlour in the Žleby castle, Bohemia. Judging from their historical context and from the imagery, the prints can be dated to the late Kangxi era. Some of them are unique, while others are known from other sites in Central Europe, for example the Badenburg pleasure-house in Bavaria. This fact makes it possible to compare their condition as well as different installation practices employed in wall decoration. As such they help us to characterize the East – West cultural exchange on multiple levels: from borrowed techniques of shading and perspective on the one hand, to their use as models for Chinoise imagery in Europe on the other. The recently discovered, relatively large collection of Suzhou beauties helps to further to understand the role Suzhou woodcuts played in rococo art. |