Page from the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy 1633

This page from the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting and Calligraphy was made in China in the 1600s, by Hu Zhengyan. It's a woodblock print, a relatively recent invention at the time, and a highly refined example of the technique. The image shows fruiting plants, rendered with exquisite subtlety, and what's truly remarkable is that each color was printed from a separate block. Think about the level of precision needed to carve these blocks and then align them perfectly on the page, layer after layer. The process would have demanded a team of highly skilled artisans, working collaboratively. Woodblock printing democratized image-making, but it also created a new kind of labor. The intense skill and laboriousness involved reminds us that even seemingly simple images are the product of complex social and economic relationships. Appreciating the process involved gets us closer to the image itself.