Wanxiaotang huazhuan 晚笑堂畫傳

Wanxiaotang Zhuzhuang huazhuan 晚笑堂竹莊畫傳, briefly called Wanxiaotang huazhuan, is an album depicting important figures from the Han 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) to the early Ming period 明 (1368-1644). It was created by Shangguan Zhou 上官周 (1665-1752), courtesy name Wenzuo 文佐, style Zhuzhuang 竹莊, from Changding 長汀, Fujian. Shangguan participated in creating the album Kangxi nanxun tu 康熙南巡圖, which illustrates one of the Kangxi Emperor's 康熙帝 (r. 1661-1722) southern inspection tours.

The album comprises three volumes and depicts 120 individuals, ranging from "saints and worties" (shengxian 聖賢) and high officials and generals to imperial consorts. In the portraits, the figures are identified with inscriptions in chancery script, accompanied by eulogies (zansong 贊頌) in regular script, and on the following page is a brief biography of each figure.

The entire album employs the "fine-line" technique (baimiao shoufa 白描手法) to depict the appearance and bearing of its figures, using delicate, flowing lines in which facial expressions and clothing textures complement each other through the interplay of the real and the suggestive. Landscape techniques are incorporated to create spatial depth, and the compositions carefully balance density and openness. The rendering of garment folds is precise and fluid. The figures featured in the book represent various social strata, including princes and ministers, generals, scholars, and celebrated ladies. The engraved portraits follow the accounts found in classical texts while also integrating individualised artistic interpretation. The work inherits the expressive portrait techniques of the Ming-period painter Zeng Jing 曾鯨, becoming a model of Qing-period 清 (1644-1911) portrait printmaking and inspiring later works such as the Mustard-Seed Garden Manual of Painting (Jieziyuan huapu 芥子園畫譜).