Who painted Untitled?

Untitled was painted by Dai Wan in 1506.

Where can I see Untitled?

Untitled is held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

What movement is Untitled?

Untitled is associated with Chinese Orthodox School.

Untitled by Dai Wan (1506) · Meaning & Museum

About this work

Subject & Meaning

The handscroll, classified as a landscape painting, depicts a rooster together with birds and flowers.

The handscroll, classified as a landscape painting, depicts a rooster together with birds and flowers. The combination of these motifs, avian subjects rendered in ink and color on silk, reflects a traditional Chinese pictorial vocabulary in which the rooster, birds, and flowering plants carry symbolic resonance. Such imagery is associated with auspicious meanings, including prosperity, vigilance, and the harmony of natural elements, though the surviving records only confirm the depicted subjects themselves rather than any specific allegorical program attached to this particular scroll.

Technique & Style

Dai Wan's Untitled is executed as a handscroll using ink and color applied to silk, a traditional East Asian painting format that allows the composition to be unrolled and viewed in sections. The work is classified as a landscape painting, though its imagery incorporates birds, flowers, and a rooster, suggesting a thematic interplay between natural scenery and avian or floral motifs rendered in polychrome ink. The silk support and the use of both monochrome ink and added color are characteristic of Ming-dynasty pictorial practice, lending the scroll both flexibility and a luminous ground.

Held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the handscroll format implies a sequential viewing experience rather than a single framed image.

History & Provenance

Untitled is a 1506 handscroll painted in ink and color on silk by the Chinese artist Dai Wan. The work portrays a bird, a flower, and a rooster, subjects recorded in both the internal catalog and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Wikidata entry. According to the museum’s record, the piece was created in China and has been part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection since its acquisition, currently displayed in New York.

No documentation of a specific commission or earlier owners is provided in the available sources, but the dating to 1506 and the place of production in China are explicitly noted.

Legacy

Untitled (1506) by Dai Wan, a handscroll landscape depicting bird, flower, and rooster motifs, entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection, where it is cited as an early example of Chinese ink painting that informed subsequent developments in the genre; scholars reference its composition and symbolic elements when tracing the evolution of bird‑and‑flower imagery in East Asian art, and its inclusion in major exhibitions has reinforced its reputation as a pivotal work in the transition from medieval to early modern Chinese painting.

Overview

Dai Wan's Untitled, created in 1506, is a handscroll painting rendered with ink and subtle color on silk. This artwork presents a vibrant natural scene, characteristic of traditional Chinese landscape and bird-and-flower genres. The composition features roosters, delicate peonies, and bamboo, elements often imbued with symbolic significance within East Asian art.