A MASTERPIECE OF CHINESE PAINTING: Suzhou's Golden Age.

First edition, first printing. Illustrated cloth covered fold-out box containing two volumes, the first reproduces the entire panoramic painting by employing a traditional Chinese parallel folding technique; the other, beautifully thread-bound, contains a detailed analysis of the work, illustrated in colour. A fine set, the contents clean and unmarked.

"Suzhou's Golden Age, a panorama of the city of Suzhou, was painted over a period of 24 years by the Qing Dynasty painter Xu Yang. He worked on a horizontal scroll that stretches an astonishing 12.25 meters. As the scroll unrolls, the viewer is spirited from the tree-covered mountains and fields of the city's periphery to the shop-lined streets, palatial courtyards, crowded waterways and majestic Taoist temples of this beautiful southern city. This book includes two volumes. One volume presents the entire painting using the traditional Chinese parallel folding technique that allows the reader either to flip through the plates like the pages of a book, or to unfold it into a single twelve meter span to take in the entire painting at once. The other volume delves deeply into this painting's historical background, including the artist's creative inspiration and detailed information on the stories incorporated in the painting." (from the publisher)