PAINTING

A Shepherd at master, the very top of his career, sells 3 paintings at once for 2 emeralds, the cheapest single purchase anywhere on his whole sheet. Nothing else he offers costs less per trip to the counter, and nothing else on his list hands back three of an item for one click.

Each painting still comes out a random canvas size and image, the same as one found in a chest or hung by a mob spawn. The villager is not selling a specific piece, only a chance at the same pool every painting in the game is drawn from.

Wool and dye are cheap on their own, so the real reason to buy rather than craft is selection: a crafting grid always produces a plain canvas at a fixed size ratio, while the wall it ends up on is what actually decides whether a bigger or smaller frame fits better.

One seller, top of his own ladder. The Shepherd only opens this offer once he has climbed the full way to master, and once he is there he asks 2 emeralds for 3 paintings in one purchase, a bulk deal no other tier on his sheet matches.

The price holds across every Shepherd who has made the climb, fixed in the trade file rather than rolled per villager, so a second one at master charges exactly the same. What varies is only how many of his 12 uses are left before the slot needs to restock.

Painting sells for as little as 2 emeralds for 3 at a time, from the Shepherd at the Master tier, and 2 of the other 5 cost less. The price is fixed rather than rolled, so a second Shepherd will quote you exactly the same.

The Shepherd at its master tier asks 2 emeralds for 3 paintings. 8 of the 72 villagers that pay emeralds, emptied out:

2 jungle boats against 52 flint for the same 2 emeralds, 26 times the carrying, and the shortest wait is the Butcher at 1.3 real minutes of shelf, gathering not counted.

Claiming an unemployed villager with a loom makes him a Shepherd right away, but painting sits at the very top of his ladder. He starts at novice and only reaches master once he has traded his way to 250 trade experience, the last tier the profession has.

Every completed sale along the way pays experience toward the next tier, whichever offer it happened to be.

Once open, the slot sells 12 batches before locking, and a villager restocks twice a Minecraft day at most, so 36 paintings is the daily ceiling for one Shepherd no matter how many emeralds are waiting.

12 purchases close the slot out, and the villager needs 2 real minutes back at his loom before it opens again. A Minecraft day runs 20 real minutes, room enough for exactly two of those refills.

Stay for the whole day and one Shepherd sells 24 batches, 72 paintings total for 48 emeralds, the ceiling for one villager regardless of how much longer you wait. A second Shepherd at the same tier is the only way past it.

Since a lower-tier villager can never carry this offer, do not bother checking a fresh Shepherd for it. Only one already sitting at master is worth the conversation, and buying all 12 uses in one visit is worth doing since the price never changes between purchases.

Also on the Shepherd's list: white wool, brown wool, black wool, gray wool, shears, and colored wool.

A painting is a single item no matter which picture ends up on it. The game picks the picture when the painting is placed, out of the ones that fit the space available, so a one by one gap can only ever produce a small picture and a four by four wall can produce anything up to the largest.

That gives you a way to steer it without buying a second painting. Build the wall to the exact size of the picture you want, place the painting, and take it down and put it back until the right one appears. Breaking a painting always returns the item, so the only cost is time.

A painting is eight sticks around one wool of any colour, which makes it one of the cheapest decorations in the game and one of the few that costs no dye. The wool colour does not affect the picture at all.

Because the game picks the picture from whatever fits, a wall built to the exact size of the painting you want is the only reliable way to get it. Blocking off part of the space and removing it afterwards is the standard trick.

Paintings also hide things. A two by two picture over a doorway conceals the passage entirely, and you can walk straight through it, which is the oldest secret door in the game.