TEA PRODUCTION SCENE

Chinese artists depicted the exotic industries of China for their Western clients, following a tradition begun during the reign of the emperor Kangxi, who commissioned the Gengzhi tu, or "Illustrations of Ploughing and Weaving," on rice-production and silk cultivation. Published in 1696, the Gengzhi tu comprised woodblock prints by the court artist Jiao Bingzhen accompanied by Kangxi's own poetry. The emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong also published such works, Qianlong adding the theme of porcelain production to the two existing series. Western traders acquired albums detailing rice, silk, porcelain and tea cultivation, as well as, more occasionally, large works like this one, encompassing all of the stages of production in one idealized world.