Prosperous Suzhou
November 13, 2013 3:13 AM   Subscribe

Prosperous Suzhou (20,353 × 546 pixel JPEG) is a 1757 scroll painting by Xu Yang illustrating the everyday life of the city, including more than 4,600 figures and 400 boats. It combines Western perspective with traditional Chinese style, and is currently on display at the Masterpieces of Chinese Painting exhibition at the London V&A.
posted by TheophileEscargot (25 comments total) 40 users marked this as a favorite
 
The amount of visual information contained in that scroll painting is staggering. Working through the image slowly from left to right is a lot like watching a film... really enjoyed that. Now I'm sad I can't get to the UK to see the exhibit, it looks awe-inspiring.
posted by kinnakeet at 5:19 AM on November 13, 2013


Awesome! Thanks for posting this. Because I really don't feel like doing any real work today.

And, as always, relevant XKCD.
posted by Naberius at 5:25 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


It's a fantastic exhibition, really blew me away! "Prosperous Suzhou" reminded me of a kind of Chinese Imperial Richard Scarry, was almost looking out for the Lowly Worm...
posted by TheophileEscargot at 5:26 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


That's amazing. Richard Scarry indeed!

I've love for someone to convert it into some sort of platform game, using the same illustrative style.
posted by dowcrag at 6:12 AM on November 13, 2013


I love the folks with what looks exactly like a picnic basket and blanket about 9/10ths of the way down. I've been saving up this show as a special reward, I hear it's amazing!
posted by Erasmouse at 6:13 AM on November 13, 2013


I've love for someone to convert it into some sort of platform game, using the same illustrative style.

You might enjoy watching the recent Legend of Korra episodes "Beginnings" part one and two. It was animated intentionally to reflect Chinese and other East Asian styles of art. It's so full of awesome, it probably should get its own post.
posted by Atreides at 6:21 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


A press release about an exhibition of this painting (as well as fourteen other paintings "on the theme of prosperous cities of the Ming and Qing dynasties") at the Hong Kong Museum of Art back in 2009 provided this excellent description of it:
The centrepiece of the exhibition is the 12-metre-long handscroll "Prosperous Suzhou". Originally entitled "Burgeoning Life in a Resplendent Age", the painting was commissioned by Emperor Qianlong (1711 - 1799; r. 1736 - 1795) after he returned from his first southern inspection tour (1751). It took several years to complete. Unrolling to reveal Lingyan Mountain, the scroll guides viewers past major landmarks on the way to Huqiu (Tiger Hill) in Suzhou. Judiciously and ingeniously composed, the painting is packed with detail and includes more than 4,800 human figures and 2,000 architectural structures. It vividly illustrates the landscapes, waterscapes, townscapes and everyday life in an area spanning several dozen miles. In the bustling urban centre in the middle of the scroll, viewers can see countless traders, merchants, passenger boats and barges, as well as dense rows of shops and vendors, all of which amply demonstrate the prosperity of Suzhou during Qianlong’s reign. As a realistic reflection of mid-18th century topography and customs, the painting is invaluable from both the historical and the artistic perspective, allowing viewers of today to travel the metropolis of 250 years ago.
I'm reminded of Joe Sacco's 24-foot monochrome panorama drawing of the start of the Battle of the Somme.
posted by orthicon halo at 6:22 AM on November 13, 2013


Dumb, provincial American question..

Would the target Chinese viewers of this walk from right to left to enjoy it? Or would they still go left to right?
posted by DigDoug at 6:32 AM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


I'm pretty sure from right to left (as with traditional Chinese writing), and only a shoulder's width at a time.
posted by tychotesla at 6:48 AM on November 13, 2013


The modern version showing a hazy view through dense smog of tens of kilometres of cars nose-to-tail on the ring-road has surprisingly never been requested for an overseas exhibition.
posted by Abiezer at 7:12 AM on November 13, 2013 [3 favorites]


I've love for someone to convert it into some sort of platform game, using the same illustrative style.

Okami is sort of along this vein, although the style is more Japanese-influenced than Chinese.
posted by Naberius at 7:20 AM on November 13, 2013


Wow, what timing - I'm lecturing my Asian art history students on Qing art today (in about two hours, in fact). There aren't always as many images of paintings as I'd like to be able to show them readily available online. We are looking at a few of the scrolls made for this patron's grandfather; maybe I can fit this in, or send it out as a link...

Really wish I could see the show.
posted by Austenite at 7:21 AM on November 13, 2013




Found Wa Li!
posted by Devonian at 7:50 AM on November 13, 2013 [3 favorites]


This is absolutely wonderful and I could (and will) get lost in it for hours. What it makes me think of is a somewhat classical Chinese Teikoku Shonen/Imperial Boy. The sheer scale and amount of detail is stunningly beautiful.
posted by byanyothername at 7:58 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


The modern version showing a hazy view through dense smog of tens of kilometres of cars nose-to-tail on the ring-road has surprisingly never been requested for an overseas exhibition.


That seems a teeny bit unfair, Abiezer!

Modern Suzhou is still one of the truly knock-your-socks-off gorgeous cities in China because so many of its extraordinary classical gardens and canals have been restored & preserved.

As others say - this is an absolutely wonderful post.

Wiki: "Today, there are 69 preserved gardens in Suzhou,[4] and all of them are designated as protected "National Heritage Sites. In 1997 and 2000, eight of the finest gardens in Suzhou along with one in the nearby ancient town of Tongli were selected by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site to represent the art of Suzhou-style classical gardens."
posted by Jody Tresidder at 8:39 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


The modern version showing a hazy view through dense smog of tens of kilometres of cars nose-to-tail on the ring-road has surprisingly never been requested for an overseas exhibition.

The right artist could make an awesome scroll of a crowded freeway....
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:40 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Could you elaborate on what you mean by combining western perspective? To my eyes it seems entirely isometric, which is what I expect from traditional scroll painting. Using western (one- or two-point) perspective over such a wide panorama would produce some pretty weird distortion.
posted by Trace McJoy at 8:52 AM on November 13, 2013


Unfortunately I'm not an expert on Chinese art, but the exhibition page says:
European art and its techniques like linear perspective and chiaroscuro became increasingly influential in the 18th and 19th centuries. The exceptionally long Prosperous Suzhou, depicting a bustling urban life by court painter Xu Yang, noticeably draws on Western perspective.
I think that isometric projection was itself a Western influence: it didn't seem to be evident in the earlier paintings (the exhibition goes back to the 900s).
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:28 AM on November 13, 2013


I wonder if the Prosperous Suzhou is a homage to one of the most famous Chinese paintings of all time, Along the River During the Qingming Festival, which is also a long long scroll depicting a bustling city-scape.
posted by Pantalaimon at 10:19 AM on November 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm not that familiar with Chinese painting but I am a big fan of isometric art and Japanese Ukiyo-e. Which is relevant because Japan was often heavily influenced by Chinese culture.

I know that a hundred years or so after the Tale of Genji was written in Japan (so I think around 1000ad and 1100ad respectively) it was illustrated on a 400+ foot long scroll, and contained the same sort of pseudo-isometric axonometric(sp) art that you can see in the Chinese painting linked. You should be able to find it by searching for something like "emaki genji" or somesuch.

The Ukiyo-e treatments of the Tale of Genji that I've seen continued to have strong axonometric perspectives, although I don't know if that's a callback or coincidence. It was remarkable enough that I researched a bit in any case.
posted by tychotesla at 10:47 AM on November 13, 2013


That seems a teeny bit unfair, Abiezer!
You are right of course. Only visited the once for a conference but recall it was far less despoiled than seems the norm these days. And I should have complimented this excellent post too.
posted by Abiezer at 11:07 AM on November 13, 2013


The modern version showing a hazy view through dense smog of tens of kilometres of cars nose-to-tail on the ring-road has surprisingly never been requested for an overseas exhibition.

This thing kind of already exists, just in a slightly different format.
posted by subtle-t at 12:03 PM on November 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


I actually saw a contemporary interpretation/parody/homage version of this style several years ago at the Documenta Art Fair. A very long horizontal scroll with a detailed landscape done in ink/watercolour on paper. There wasn't that much traffic or smog, mostly just low-rise apartment buildings. Sorry, I cannot recall the artist's name.
posted by ovvl at 3:25 PM on November 13, 2013


Went to see this at the weekend, and it's beyond incredible. Took two trips past it, and still didn't get half of it. Gobsmacking.
posted by bonaldi at 5:55 PM on December 1, 2013 [1 favorite]


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