An Addition to a Splendid Education. The young Chinese of the upper class don't only cultivate the art of the hunting horn, they also learn to give punches with the fist or the heels of their boots right into the pit of the stomach. This talent is called boxing with the feet and it is cultivated with the greatest success by all those who consider placing themselves on a good footing in society, plate 17 from Voyage En Chine 1844

This lithograph, “An Addition to a Splendid Education,” was made by Honoré Daumier in the 19th century. Daumier worked primarily with lithography, a printmaking process that uses the chemical repulsion of oil and water. The artist draws on a stone or metal plate with a greasy medium, then applies ink that adheres only to the drawing. The resulting prints can have a crayon-like quality, as we see here in the textured shading that defines the figures' forms. The process lent itself to the mass production of images for newspapers and magazines. In this piece, Daumier satirizes the French obsession with exotic cultures, particularly China, showing two upper-class Chinese men engaged in a brutal form of martial arts. The print's title and caption, dripping with irony, highlight the absurdity of this "splendid education," revealing Daumier's social critique of class and cultural appropriation. The very act of printing hundreds of copies, and widely distributing them, serves to amplify this sentiment. Daumier’s choice of lithography allowed him to reach a broad audience, using his art to comment on the social and political issues of his time.