Abstract
This article intends to explore visuality in late Ming publications through case studies of diverse illustrated editions of The Story of the Western Wing. I focus on two features: multiple-block color printing and pictures within a frame. I first discuss the changes in the relationship between text and illustration, as well as the elements of narration and decoration in different editions. Secondly, focusing on the Ming Qiji edition of Western Wing printed in 1640, I analyze the interaction between prints, texts, and other modes of decorative arts in order to explore the dialogue between print culture and visual culture. An overview of existent illustrated Ming editions of the Western Wing shows that they gradually became reading materials rather than plays intended to be acted out. Most later edition pictures were gathered together and placed in the first part of the book instead of amongst the pages. Therefore the image became less related to the text. In addition, pictures of landscapes and flower-and-bird pictures irrelevant to the text were more and more often included in the illustrations. In sum, the narrative elements in these illustrations were reduced. In contrast, the decorative elements in illustrations, including patterns, multi-block color printing technique, and framing, became more apparent. The device of framing might have derived from kaiguang in object decoration or the experience of looking scenes through decorated door or window in designed garden. Examples as early as mid-Ming prints show this new direction, yet the trend reached a highpoint in Ming Qiji edition . The designer made diverse frames for each narrative scene in the play and played with the real and fictional spaces, revealing a consciousness of viewing and reflecting a prevailing interest in visuality in many different areas during this period. Furthermore, the assumption that the Qing interest in framing comes from Western perspective is thus challenged; it may have grown from these new artistic developments in the late Ming.