Pictures for Use and Pleasure Vernacular Painting in High Qing China

In this groundbreaking book, James Cahill significantly expands the field of Chinese pictorial art history with the first scholarly account of paintings for "use and pleasure." These functional, so-called vernacular works were produced by professional urban artists for affluent patrons, from the end of the Ming through the Qianlong period-the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Traditional Chinese collectors disparaged these works, which were intended as decorations or produced to mark a special occasion, and favored the "literati" paintings of upper-class amateurs. But today the often stunning vernacular images add a strong visual dimension to our understanding of High Qing culture. They bring to light the Qing or Manchu emperors' fascination with erotic culture in the thriving cities of the Yangtze Delta and revise our understanding of gender roles. They demonstrate the growth of figure painting within and around Beijing's imperial court and show that Chinese artists made important use of European styles. Pictures for Use and Pleasure introduces a rich corpus of works, long ignored in the studies of the period's art, and opens new windows on later Chinese life and society.