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I am presently living in Brasil so research is difficult. I am researching, from Imperial not modern eras, photographs and other visual art forms of a sexual nature. This is broad and information or Internet e-mail answers will be much appreciated. At the moment this will be in research form and possibly part of publication where not copywrited. I understand this is delicate for some. One must understand that sex, sexual art and literature are part of the whole picture of any advanced civilization. Thank you all for your contributions and other communications.

I support you!

Why am I not surprised?

I think that explicit nudity is prohibited on CHF, but tasteful discussions of academic nature are permissible. You should probably ask General Zhaoyun for clarification on what can or can't be posted.

Perhaps links to off site art would be in order, rather than posting art directly.

Nudity or showing of genitals is banned in CHF... however, you can discuss the sex art.

I think when talking sensual literature in imperial china, does Li Yu's (肉蒲团 "The Carnal Prayer Mat") count as one of the more famous ones?

We had an earlier discussion on sex (erotic) literature in ancient China. See
http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=1204

Thank you for the direction General ZY!

We forbid explicit materials because we want to keep the forum open to people of all ages, but discussions of sexuality without explicit descriptions are welcome. There have been threads on sexuality on CHF before, and nothing outrageous happened! Here are the two most relevant links (one of them already given by GZ):

http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=1204 (on "sex novels")
http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=15215 (on sexual education)

The second thread contains this link, which leads to pictures:
http://cul.book.sina.com.cn/bbs/p/f/2006/1103/161217569.html

Cheers,
Madalibi

I think what you are looking for is 春宮圖

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/春宫图

euarte, the following carved brick excavated in Sichuan province is dated to the Han period and is probably the earliest known depiction of sexual activity in Chinese art. The interpretation of the brick is difficult because the sex is aparently taking place in a forest, and there are clearly two other men in the scene, besides the mating couple. Some have interpreted it as depicting 'Daoist' sexual rituals aimed at attaining longevity; others interpret it as reflecting that group sex in the countryside was common from Zhou times all the way to Han.

I paste the link here rather than the picture, since it is not suitable for all members here:
http://static4.photo.sina.com.cn/bmiddle/4...b06215ccf5e6983

in the book, 秘戲圖考, they explore erotics from different dynasties.
金瓶梅畫 was kept in the forbbiden city.

Yun, the link doesn't work.

As an answer to a former question, I do believe the Carnal Prayer Mat counts, I read a small excerpt in a book on Chinese literature in Barnes and Noble. That's definitely under this header.

OK, maybe this link will work http://cn.yimg.com/gallery/books/20071224105416757451ri2.jpg

This might have been linked before, but, just it case it hasn't, this article on Japanese erotic art has some brief info about its Chinese origins. I have always been interested in the Ukiyo (Floating World) of the Japanese pleasure quarters, primarily the Yoshiwara. So I would really like to see this thread prosper.

Wikicommons has a decent collection of Shunga pictures. Some of them appear in the Chinese Wiki article linked in a previous comment. Warning! - The pictures are extremely adult oriented. Do not click the link if you do not wish to see paintings of of a sexual nature!!!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Shunga