The earliest Chinese popular prints <i>nianhua</i> in Russia: the historiographical significance of academician L. I. Shrenk’s collection stored at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the RAS
The Chinese funds of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the RAS (Kunstkamera) contain a rich collection of Chinese popular prints nianhua , many of them still remaining understudied and unpublished. The article addresses the history of arrival of these pictures at Kunstkamera and the motifs and artistic features of one of the earliest collections of such prints to arrive to a Russian museum. These prints were received by the museum as part of a big ethnographic collection assembled by the academician Leopold I. Shrenk during his expedition in the Amur region in 1855-1856. All the prints were produced in the workshops of Wuqiang County, which was one of the biggest centers of popular prints production along with the workshops in Yangliuqing, Shandong Province, etc. The majority of images depict motifs from plays performed in the local theaters of Shanxi Province. There are also well-wishing images and depictions of motifs from the local folklore. The article discusses 17 prints in total, the descriptions being provided with illustrations. Working with the narrative prints, we managed to identify almost all the images, juxtapose them with the plots of plays, tales and novels and translate the texts complementing the images. The article also touches upon the issue of organization of the centers of prints production, their history and development. The authors have examined all the known albums of prints, published in Russia and China over the past two or three decades.