Dish with a scene of picking plum blossoms

Ming and Qing Scenes of Daily Life, 1368–1911

The Ming and Qing dynasties witnessed the ascendance of the scholar class and educated elite. The influence of scholarly taste had its effect on virtually all aspects of artistic production, most obviously painting and calligraphy. Advances in the print industry allowed broad access to reproductions of pictorial imagery, which became pervasive in mediums such as ceramics, textiles, and lacquer. The popularity of landscape paintings and scenes from everyday life extended into all mediums.

Especially popular at this time were how-to manuals that detailed the techniques of painting—methods for depicting the lines of garments and for types of dots and strokes in landscape elements. The use of such manuals by artists and artisans working in many mediums resulted in highly conventionalized brushwork and other formulaic styles. Subject matter was largely taken from a small number of well-liked literary works.