Scott No: 1629-31
Serial number: J60
Values in set: 3
Date of issue: October 8, 1980
Denomination: 24 fen
Designer: Deng Xiqing
Size of stamps:
52*31mm for Value 1, 3;
31*52mm for Value 2;
Perforation: 11.5
Sheet composition:
40 (4*10) for Value 1, 3;
40 (10*4) for Value 2
Printing process: Photogravure
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

J60 "Commemoration of the UNESCO Exhibition of Chinese Painting Art" commemorative stamps were issued on October 8, 1980. The set consists of 3 stamps, printed by photogravure, designed by Deng Xiqing, and printed by the Beijing Stamp Factory. Perforation gauge 11.5; the formats of the three stamps differ—the first and third measure 52 mm × 31 mm, and the second measures 31 mm × 52 mm; 40 stamps per sheet for each design, and the circulation of each single stamp is 8 million copies. The original paintings were created by Liu Haisu, Yu Fei'an, and Wu Zuoren respectively.

Theme of the Set

This set was issued at the proposal of UNESCO, in conjunction with the Chinese Painting Art Exhibition held at the same time. In the early period of reform and opening up, it used famous Chinese paintings to show the world the charm of traditional Chinese painting art, promote exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations, and echo UNESCO's purpose of promoting cultural dissemination and protecting artistic heritage. It is an important stamp set on the theme of outward cultural exchange in the early 1980s.

Stamp Designs and Historical Background

The Wondrous Sea of Clouds of Mount Huang

The original painting is by Liu Haisu, using the splashed-ink freehand technique of Chinese painting. It depicts the peaks of Mount Huang faintly appearing amid a vast sea of clouds, with smoke and clouds flowing and the mountains vast and hazy, with an expansive and distant artistic conception, fully displaying the unique charm of freehand landscape painting. On the side of the stamp are printed the temple logo and English abbreviation of UNESCO, indicating the exhibition theme.

Orioles and Magnolias

The original painting is a fine-brush flower-and-bird work by Yu Fei'an, with a steady sapphire-blue background, pure white magnolias in full bloom, and two orioles perched on the branches. The lines are neat and delicate, and the coloring is elegant and bright. The magnolia symbolizes noble purity, and flowers and birds set off each other; it is a typical fine-brush heavy-color flower-and-bird masterpiece. The picture is in a vertical composition, forming a horizontal-vertical variation with the other two stamps.

Herding Camels

The original painting is by Wu Zuoren. The picture depicts a camel caravan slowly moving forward over the desert, with concise and generalized brushwork, using variations of ink density to shape the camels' forms. The picture is open and vast, displaying the scenery beyond the frontier in the northwest and implicitly carrying the meaning of civilized exchange along the Silk Road, with plain and vigorous brushwork.

Artistic Design Features

The set selects three entirely different Chinese painting subjects—landscape, flowers and birds, and camel herding beyond the frontier—covering both mainstream painting categories of freehand and fine brush, with rich and diverse styles. A unified UNESCO logo border is set on all three, making the three independent famous paintings form a complete series. In layout, one horizontal and one vertical alternate, giving visual variety. The photogravure printing restores the layers of Chinese painting brush-and-ink well, with soft transitions of ink and color, preserving the artistic charm of the originals within the square inch of stamps. Using stamps as a carrier, it brings fine modern and contemporary Chinese paintings to the international view.