Artwork
清 佚名 秋葉山禽 冊頁|Bird on Branch
清 佚名 秋葉山禽 冊頁|Bird on Branch is an ink painting. It dates from 1777 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This work, titled "Bird on Branch," is an anonymous Chinese painting executed on silk and mounted as a fan leaf within an album.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work portrays a single bird perched on a branch, rendered in ink and color on silk as part of a fan album leaf.
The work portrays a single bird perched on a branch, rendered in ink and color on silk as part of a fan album leaf. Its subject is identified simply as a bird, reflecting a landscape genre typical of Qing painting. The bird functions as a conventional motif in Chinese art, symbolizing transience and the natural world, though the specific symbolic meaning is not elaborated in the sources. The painting was created in 1777 in China and is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Technique & Style
Bird on Branch is a fan mounted as an album leaf, executed in ink and color on silk. The Metropolitan Museum of Art records the work's dimensions as 27.3 by 27.6 cm, a nearly square format consistent with a circular or shaped fan remounted into a leaf. The painted surface is silk, and the medium combines monochrome ink with applied color, a standard combination for Chinese album-leaf painting of the period.
Stylistically, the work is classified within the landscape genre, with a bird as its depicted subject. Its 1777 date places it within the late Qing dynasty, and the anonymous attribution, together with the album-leaf mounting of a former fan, reflects a typical format for small-scale, intimate bird-and-flower compositions of that era.
No information regarding current condition, conservation handling, or specific stylistic analysis is provided in the available sources.
History & Provenance
The album leaf titled Bird on Branch is dated 1777, a date recorded in both the work’s internal documentation and its Wikidata entry.
The painting entered the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as accession number 13.100.129, where it is currently held. Its dimensions are recorded as 27.3 cm in height and 27.6 cm in width. The work is executed in ink and color on silk and was originally mounted as a fan before being remounted as an album leaf.
Overview
This work, titled "Bird on Branch," is an anonymous Chinese painting executed on silk and mounted as a fan leaf within an album. Rendered with ink and color, the composition presents a solitary bird perched on a branch against an unadorned background, emphasizing the bird as the focal point.
Artist & collection
