Art News

The British Museum opens “The Printed Image in China”

Tchien Loong - print; Mariano Bovi (Print made by); Portrait of the Qianlong emperor based on a Chinese prototype. 1795 Aquatint and etching, printed in colour.  Collection of The British Museum

LONDON – “The Printed Image in China” presents
for the first time highlights
from the entire collection of Chinese prints at the British Museum. The
collection is one of the most comprehensive and finest in
Europe.According to
present knowledge, printing on paper was invented in China around 700
AD, making
China the country with the longest history of printing in the world.
About 120
prints will illuminate the history of printing from its inception to the

present, and explore the role of the Chinese pictorial print in various
cultural
contexts. On exhibition 6 May through 5 September, 2010.