Comparative Study of the Illustrations and Images of the Chinese Classical Novel “Investiture of the Gods” in Woodblock Editions, Popular Prints and Temple Paintings

Abstract

The paper discusses visual material based the plot of the Ming dynasty novel Fengshen yanyi (“Investiture of the Gods”, “封神演義”,), formed on the basis of a large corpus of written historical works and Song—Yuan vernacular literature. Various illustrated woodblock and lithographic editions of the novel (published before 1911) are discussed in chronological order with focus on the special features and artistic level of the illustrations, their content and technique are compared. Artisans' approaches to interpretation of the novel is also a subject of discussion. Popular woodblock prints nianhua from Russian collections are examined in order to trace whether connections with book illustrations exist and what episodes of the novel became more popular and for what reason. The paper refers to materials stored in prominent libraries, museums and research centres of Russia, Europe, US and Asia.