Jin Ping Mei Illustrated Collection

Author: Cao Hanmei Illustrated
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-07-01
Features: The Golden Lotus is a of ancient China, renowned for its profound influence and numerous translations, which are celebrated worldwide and rarely seen in history. Lu Xun highly praised it as "the supreme among all storytelling works," while Zheng Zhenduo called it "a great realistic novel." The The Golden Lotus Picture Album features two sets of eight labels, double-sided printed with sixteen images. It is an artistic recreation of twelve carefully selected scenes from the original book: , 5, 8, 16, 37, 40, 251, 290, 350, 376, 425, and 496.
The Golden Lotus is a of ancient China, renowned for its profound influence and numerous translations, which are celebrated worldwide and rarely seen in history. Lu Xun highly praised it as "the supreme among all storytelling works," while Zheng Zhenduo called it "a great realistic novel." In 2003, after acquiring the The Golden Lotus Picture Album published by Shanghai Bookstore, I was immediately captivated by its stunning images. Among the five hundred scenes, none were repetitive, with characters depicted vividly, backgrounds simplified, and perspectives constantly changing—whether panoramic, close-up, high-angle, or low-angle. The meticulous details in the five hundred illustrations reached an extreme level of craftsmanship, and the expressive power was equally remarkable. The brushwork was elegant and forceful, the composition innovative yet orderly. It fully employed various artistic techniques from ancient and modern times, with bold and skilled lines. The deep courtyards of China and the neighborhood teahouses were rendered with clarity. Each image seemed to come alive, capturing joy, laughter, anger, and resentment in every expression. Truly, it stands as a masterpiece in the treasury of sequential art. At the time, I wished there could be a set of labels, and I even prepared to propose this idea at the annual meeting.
The The Golden Lotus Picture Album is a product of Cao Hanmei's ten years of dedication, repeatedly revised and refined. In 1942, Shanghai's National News Publishing House released Cao Hanmei's Complete Illustrations of The Golden Lotus, consisting of five hundred images, each accompanied by excerpts from the novel. Titled Complete Illustrations, it actually covered only thirty-five of the novel's one hundred chapters. The promotional material at the time read: "The text is a remarkable work, and the illustrations are equally outstanding. The images above and the text below form a perfect harmony," and "Without the original The Golden Lotus, Cao's artistry cannot be fully appreciated, and without Cao's illustrations, the brilliance of The Golden Lotus remains untapped."
The twelve images selected for the labels are exquisite, fully capturing the expressions and actions of the characters, presenting a multi-angle and multi-layered portrayal of Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian's debauchery. Though few in number, they offer a glimpse of the entire album. The only drawback is that scenes from one hundred to two hundred were not included, which slightly disappointed me.
The Golden Lotus is a of ancient China, renowned for its profound influence and numerous translations, which are celebrated worldwide and rarely seen in history. Lu Xun highly praised it as "the supreme among all storytelling works," while Zheng Zhenduo called it "a great realistic novel." The The Golden Lotus Picture Album features two sets of eight labels, double-sided printed with sixteen images. It is an artistic recreation of twelve carefully selected scenes from the original book: , 5, 8, 16, 37, 40, 251, 290, 350, 376, 425, and 496.
The Golden Lotus is a of ancient China, renowned for its profound influence and numerous translations, which are celebrated worldwide and rarely seen in history. Lu Xun highly praised it as "the supreme among all storytelling works," while Zheng Zhenduo called it "a great realistic novel." In 2003, after acquiring the The Golden Lotus Picture Album published by Shanghai Bookstore, I was immediately captivated by its stunning images. Among the five hundred scenes, none were repetitive, with characters depicted vividly, backgrounds simplified, and perspectives constantly changing—whether panoramic, close-up, high-angle, or low-angle. The meticulous details in the five hundred illustrations reached an extreme level of craftsmanship, and the expressive power was equally remarkable. The brushwork was elegant and forceful, the composition innovative yet orderly. It fully employed various artistic techniques from ancient and modern times, with bold and skilled lines. The deep courtyards of China and the neighborhood teahouses were rendered with clarity. Each image seemed to come alive, capturing joy, laughter, anger, and resentment in every expression. Truly, it stands as a masterpiece in the treasury of sequential art. At the time, I wished there could be a set of labels, and I even prepared to propose this idea at the annual meeting.
The The Golden Lotus Picture Album is a product of Cao Hanmei's ten years of dedication, repeatedly revised and refined. In 1942, Shanghai's National News Publishing House released Cao Hanmei's Complete Illustrations of The Golden Lotus, consisting of five hundred images, each accompanied by excerpts from the novel. Titled Complete Illustrations, it actually covered only thirty-five of the novel's one hundred chapters. The promotional material at the time read: "The text is a remarkable work, and the illustrations are equally outstanding. The images above and the text below form a perfect harmony," and "Without the original The Golden Lotus, Cao's artistry cannot be fully appreciated, and without Cao's illustrations, the brilliance of The Golden Lotus remains untapped."
The twelve images selected for the labels are exquisite, fully capturing the expressions and actions of the characters, presenting a multi-angle and multi-layered portrayal of Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian's debauchery. Though few in number, they offer a glimpse of the entire album. The only drawback is that scenes from one hundred to two hundred were not included, which slightly disappointed me.