China, 18th-19th century. Ink and watercolors on paper. Each skillfully painted to illustrate a different stage of silk production, including the preparation and inspection of twig frames and trays for the silkworms and mulberry leaves, as well as the loading and weighing of baskets filled with silkworm cocoons and the soaking of such cocoons in order to free the silk.

Provenance: English trade.
Condition: Good condition with minor wear, soiling, and creasing.

Dimensions: Image size 25.5 x 25 cm (each)

Each painting is matted and framed. (14)

Didactic images of silk and rice production first appeared in Chinese culture around 1145 with the Southern Song dynasty court painter Lou Shou (1090-1162). Accompanied by poetic inscriptions describing the individual steps of production, these imperially sponsored images demonstrated the Emperor's interest in fostering sound agricultural and sericulture practices for these key economic engines and sources of food and clothing for the nation, as well as government revenue through taxation.

In the seventeenth century, the Kangxi Emperor commissioned the court artist Jiao Bingzhen (fl. 1689-1726) to create a new edition of the Gengzhi tu, which was published as woodblock printed albums in 1696. As a result of the book's wide distribution, the imagery from the 1696 edition soon began appearing in a variety of media, on porcelain vases, lacquer screens, fine embroidery, and paintings, as seen in the present lot.

Literature comparison:
An album of woodblock prints, with 46 illustrations on the cultivation of grain and silk, commissioned by the Kangxi Emperor, dated 1696, is in the British Museum, registration number 1949,0709,0.1.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie's New York, 27 January 2014, lot 397
Price: USD 7,500 or approx. EUR 8,600 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A set of six Chinese silk production pictures, 19th century
Expert remark: Note the similar sizes (23.7 x 24.1 cm) and that the lot comprises six album leaves, each with two pictures, four of which are framed.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie's London, 14 May 2019, lot 178
Price: GBP 11,250 or approx. EUR 14,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: Formerly attributed to Jiao Bingzhen (fl. 1689-1726), Sericulture
Expert remark: Note the size (30.4 x 26.6 cm) and that the lot comprises an album of 24 leaves, twelve of which are closely related paintings, the other twelve with calligraphy reproducing the text of the Kangxi Emperor's poems inscribed on Jiao Bingzhen's original paintings.



清代《蠶織圖》
中國，十八至十九世紀，紙本設色。描繪中國南方蠶織戶養蠶、下蠶、繅絲生產的過程。

來源：英國古玩交易。
品相：狀況良好，有輕微磨損、污漬和摺痕。

尺寸：畫面分別為25.5 x 25 厘米

裝框。(14)

宋代曾有《耕織圖》，是中國農桑生產最早的成套圖像資料，繪者為樓璹。樓璹在宋高宗時期任於潛（今浙江省臨安市）縣令時，深感農夫、蠶婦之辛苦，即作耕、織二圖詩來描繪農桑生產的各個環節。《耕織圖》成為後人研究宋代農業生產技術最珍貴的形象資料。南宋嘉定三年（1210年），樓璹之孫樓洪、樓深等以石刻之傳於後世。

清康熙二十八年（1689年）康熙帝南巡時，江南士子進獻藏書甚豐，其中有“宋公重加考訂，鋟諸梓以傳”的《耕織圖》。康熙帝即命焦秉貞據原意另繪耕圖、織圖各23幅，並附有皇帝本人的七言絕句及序文。繪畫內容略有變動，耕圖增加“初秧”、“祭神”二圖，織圖刪去“下蠶”、“喂蠶”、“一眠”三圖，增加“染色”、“成衣”二圖，圖序亦有變換。宋、清《耕織圖》的佈景與人物活動大同小異，但焦圖畫中的風俗易為清代，所繪更為工細纖麗，在技法上還參用了西洋焦點透視法。

文獻比較：
一組1696 年康熙皇帝委託製作的版畫畫冊，共 46 幅有關種植糧食和絲綢的插圖，收藏於大英博物館，館藏編號 1949,0709,0.1。

拍賣結果比較：
形制：非常相近
拍賣：紐約佳士得，2014年1月27日，lot 397
價格：USD 7,500（相當於今日EUR 8,600）
描述：十九世紀一組六幅《製絲綢過程》
專家評論：請注意相似的尺寸 (23.7 x 24.1釐米)，以及此為六幅畫。

拍賣結果比較：
形制：非常相近
拍賣：倫敦佳士得，2019年5月14日，lot 178
價格：GBP 11,250（相當於今日EUR 14,500）
描述：焦秉貞款（fl. 1689-1726）《蠶業》
專家評論：請注意尺寸(30.4 x 26.6釐米) 。這是一本24頁的畫冊，其中十二幅是密切相關的繪畫，另外十二幅是複製康熙皇帝在焦秉貞原畫上題寫的詩文。