DEUX ESTAMPES DE SUZHOUAtelier de la famille Ding à Suzhou, 1ère moitié du XVIIIe siècle TWO SUZHOU WOODBLOCK PRINTS Suzhou Ding Family Studio, first half 18th century Ink and pigment on paper, with embossing. Each 35cm (13 3/4in) wide x 29cm (11 1/2in) long. (2). 十八世紀上半葉 蘇州丁氏木刻版畫 一組兩幀 Provenance: Robert Rousset, Paris (1901-1981) Jean-Pierre Rousset, Paris (1936-2021) 來源： 巴黎Robert Rousset（1901-1981）舊藏 巴黎Jean-Pierre Rousset（1936-2021）舊藏 Although originally Suzhou was one of many centres of woodblock printing, including Nanjing, Hangzhou and Xin'an, the banning of vernacular literature during sporadic periods of the early Qing dynasty forced many woodblock carvers and printers from other centres to move to wealthy Suzhou for new opportunities. No longer limiting themselves to book illustration, they extended their work to independent single-sheet pictures, and in much larger dimensions, such as the present lot. The Ding clan ran a print workshop in Suzhou in the Jinchang district and specialised in subject matters such as flowers, fruits and birds. See a related example of a lotus flower and bird print by Ding Liangxian, first half 18th century, illustrated in The Printed Image in China: from the 8th to the 21st centuries , London, 2010, p.82.