Book

Reproduction of the illustrated book titled Yuzhi gengzhi tu (御製耕織圖; Imperially commissioned illustrations of agriculture and sericulture), Vol. I. Paintings by Jiao Bingzhen (焦秉貞). The original 1696 edition was commissioned in the early Qing dynasty by the Kangxi emperor (r.1661–1722) and produced by his court painter Jiao Bingzhen. It is based on an earlier version compiled by Lou Shou 樓璹 (1090–1162). Distributed nationwide, this set (with N1.554) of two accordion-style books served as a guide to rice cultivation and silk production.

The images and poems depict the ideal of a harmonious society in which ordinary men and women carry out their tasks with diligence and
reap the rewards of their labour.

Illustrated book with twenty-three paintings in polychrome. The painting is on the right page and a short poem on the left. The book opens up accordion-style, with the paintings and poems on one side; the other side is blank. The illustrations in sequence are: two people standing beside a shrine in a house with three people kneeling on a mat while two more are bowing on the grass; two people in a grain house being passed a container of grain being carried by two others while another person is carrying a container of grain on the back outside the gate with another carrying two buckets of grain on a pole across the shoulders; two people sifting grain with another person shoveling grain, and four others in the background; two people sifting grain with another person sweeping grain, another person carrying grain on the back, a mother with her child in a house, and a boy with chickens outside; one person pounding(?) grain outside, one person talking inside a building to another leaning over a gate-like wall, two people carrying a container of grain, and two people farming in the upper corner; a person tending to a child on wall, two people sifting grain, one person putting grain into a container that has a yoke-like contraption being operated by three people with two more people in the background; four people holding two-pronged sticks over a pile of grain while another pours a drink for them; four people stacking bundled grain; ten people helping to harvest grain; three people working in a back field while another is opening a water sluice in the fore field; four people working in a field while another looks on; four people working on a back field while two others are carrying food, and drinks for them with a child following behind; four people working in a fore field while two are opening a water sluice for them, and another is riding toward them on the back of an animal; four people working in a back field while another joins four others in a fore field; five people gathering grasses in a lower corner while another is stepping into the water behind them with three more having a basket and carrying trays of grasses in them; one man carrying two buckets on a pole over his shoulders while another man is trying to fix his; a woman fishing a pail out of the water, and two men with a boy holding a bird; two men sowing seeds in a watery field, and a boy holding a bucket on his shoulders with a dog; a man cultivating a field with an ox-like animal; a man cultivating a field with an ox-like animal while another is watching from the back of a similar animal; a man cultivating a field with an ox-like animal; a man cultivating a field with an ox-like animal while another man holding a stick is watching; and two people putting sacks into a watery field while a man is watching with a woman, and two children behind him. There are four pages of calligraphy at the back.