''Prosperous Suzhou'' (), originally entitled ''Burgeoning Life in a Resplendent Age'' (), is an 18th-century scroll painting (

handscroll The handscroll is a long, narrow, horizontal scroll format in East Asia used for calligraphy or paintings. A handscroll usually measures up to several meters in length and around 25–40 cm in height. Handscrolls are generally viewed starting ...

) created in 1759 by the Chinese court painter Xu Yang. Depicting the bustling urban life of

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trad ...

, it combines Western perspective with traditional Chinese style. It measures .

History

The

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 ...

commissioned ''Prosperous Suzhou'' after he returned from an inspection trip to the south in 1751. It took several years for Xu Yang, a native of Suzhou, to complete. ''Prosperous Suzhou'' was renamed from ''Burgeoning Life in a Resplendent Age'' in the 1950s.

Description

''Prosperous Suzhou'' is a

, a long narrow scroll for displaying a series of scenes. It is twelve meters in length. It is intended to be viewed starting from the right end, by laying it flat on a table and unrolling it. One admires it section for section during the unrolling as if traveling through a landscape, depicting a continuous journey.Delbanco, Dawn (2008)
"Chinese Handscrolls"
In ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History''. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved November 13, 2013. European art and its techniques like linear perspective became increasingly influential in China the 18th and 19th centuries. Skillfully composed, ''Prosperous Suzhou'' combines Western linear perspective with traditional Chinese compositional devices. The scroll is invaluable from both a historical and an artistic point of view, depicting in intricate detail the mid-18th century topography and customs of

, allowing modern viewers to visit a Chinese city of 250 years ago. In his inscription at the end of the scroll, Xu Yang wrote that he painted it in order to depict a peaceful and prosperous reign, and to pay homage to the reign of the

. In addition, his inscription describes the scroll as a journey from

Mount Lingyan Lingyan Mountain () is located in western Mudu town in the Wuzhong District of Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. It is famous for an abundance of Yuhua Stones. There are various animals on and around the mountain. There are several Buddhist temples on ...

to the city walls of Suzhou, through the city, and ending at Tiger Hill. The scroll vividly illustrates the visual appearance of the terrain, urban landscapes, and everyday life in an area covering several dozen miles. The middle of the scroll depicts an idealised view of all the activities of the bustling urban center of Suzhou. Viewers can see numerous merchants, traders, barges and passenger boats, as well as dense rows of shops and vendors. More than 4,800 human figures, 2,000 architectural structures, and 400 boats are present. File:Xu_Yang_-_Women_of_the_village_working.jpg, Village women at work File:Xu_Yang_-_Theatre_play.jpg, Theater File:Xu_Yang_-_Commerce_on_the_water.jpg, Commerce on the water File:Xu_Yang_-_Examination_hall.jpg, Examination hall File:Xu_Yang_-_Marriage.jpg, Marriage ceremony File:Xu_Yang_-_Tiger_Hill_in_Suzhou.jpg, Tiger Hill and artist's inscription

Exhibitions

''Prosperous Suzhou'' along with fourteen other paintings (all on the subject of the prosperous cities of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

and

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

) from the

Liaoning Provincial Museum The Liaoning Provincial Museum (Chinese language, Chinese: traditional characters, trad. , simplified characters, simp. , ''Liáoníngshěng Bówùguǎn'') is a prominent museum of history and fine arts located in Shenyang, the capi ...

were exhibited at the

Hong Kong Museum of Art The Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) is the first and main art museum of Hong Kong, located in Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. It is managed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government. HKMoA has an art collection ...

from 25 September 2009 to 22 November 2009 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. The

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

mounted an exhibition entitled ''Masterpieces of Chinese Painting'' that included ''Prosperous Suzhou'' from 26 October 2013 to 19 January 2014. The exhibition was organized to display the finest examples of Chinese painting from the beginning of the 8th to the end of the 19th century. In 2016, a booklet by Michael Nicoll-Griffith was published entitled "Prosperous Suzhou" which displays a painted copy of Xu Yang's original. The booklet includes an explanation in English of pictorial descriptions in each half-metre of the painting.

References

External links

Suzhou Scroll
zoomable panoramic viewer depicting details of ''Prosperous Suzhou''. * {{YouTube, id=VCsAVcTZ2xY, title=''Prosperous Suzhou'', an

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econo ...

segment about the 2009 exhibition of ''Prosperous Suzhou'' in Hong Kong. Chinese paintings 1759 paintings Culture in Suzhou Maritime paintings Panoramas

History

Description

Exhibitions

See also

References

External links