Abstract
Images of warfare are abundant in Ming literati anthologies. Most of these images depict contemporary battles, an uncommon theme in both traditional literati paintings and in counterfeit antique pictures produced by commercial workshops, and therefore had their unique demands, expressions, and networks of circulation. Such images, set apart from the so-called ”elegant” or ”vulgar” pictures with which current scholarship is preoccupied, provide us with a different perspective from which to understand Ming visual culture. Why were images of warfare popular in the Ming dynasty? What were the modes of production and of visual culture to which they belonged? Interestingly, many such images focus on the military achievement of one particular individual, whereas images from the Qianlong period of the Qing typically depict wars against various enemies without focusing on any one specific figure. Did this Ming feature have to do with the fact that the protagonists in Ming pictorial narratives of war include both military and civil officials? In what context did the images of warfare appear during the Ming? This article will clarify issues related to images of warfare, discuss the relationship between their popularity and the visual culture of officials, analyze their development through case studies of woodblock prints, and conclude with a brief discussion of the influence of these images.