Where can I see 明佚名絹本設色鳥販圖軸|Bird peddler?

明佚名絹本設色鳥販圖軸|Bird peddler is held by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

What movement is 明佚名絹本設色鳥販圖軸|Bird peddler?

明佚名絹本設色鳥販圖軸|Bird peddler is associated with Patna School of Painting.

Artwork

明佚名絹本設色鳥販圖軸|Bird peddler

明佚名絹本設色鳥販圖軸|Bird peddler is an ink painting. It dates from 1500 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This hanging scroll, titled "Bird Peddler," originates from China's Ming Dynasty and is rendered in ink and color on silk.

About this work

Subject & Meaning

As an anonymous silk painting, the piece captures a slice of common life, focusing on the interaction between the seller and the potential buyer or assistant.

The work is a genre scene depicting a merchant, identified as a bird peddler, accompanied by a boy and several birds. Created in China around 1500, the painting illustrates a moment of daily commerce rather than a mythological or courtly narrative. The central figures include a man and a youth, with the birds serving as the primary commodity of the trade.

As an anonymous silk painting, the piece captures a slice of common life, focusing on the interaction between the seller and the potential buyer or assistant. The imagery represents the economic activities and social interactions characteristic of the period, presenting the bird trade as a specific facet of contemporary urban or rural existence.

Technique & Style

The work is executed as a hanging scroll using ink and polychrome pigments on silk, a support typical of Ming-dynasty portable paintings. The anonymous artist applied delicate brushwork and layered washes to render a bird vendor alongside a boy, employing a balanced composition and subtle color modulation characteristic of genre scenes. The silk support indicates the piece was intended for hanging, requiring careful rolling and unrolling. Stylistically, the painting combines fine line definition with muted tonal transitions, emphasizing narrative clarity over decorative excess.

History & Provenance

The hanging scroll titled Bird Peddler (Ming dynasty, c. 1500) is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Classified as a painting on silk in ink and color, the work is attributed to an anonymous Chinese artist. The provided sources do not specify a unique inventory or accession number for this piece, nor do they record any past or future exhibitions of the work.

Overview

This hanging scroll, titled "Bird Peddler," originates from China's Ming Dynasty and is rendered in ink and color on silk. The painting captures a vibrant street scene centered around a vendor offering various birds for sale. Although the artist remains unidentified, the work provides a detailed glimpse into the social dynamics and commercial activities of the period, reflecting aspects of everyday life.

Context

Created during the Ming Dynasty, this painting belongs to a tradition of genre scenes that documented aspects of daily life. The anonymity of the artist is common for many works from this period, particularly those depicting popular subjects rather than imperial commissions or portraits of specific individuals. Such works often served to capture and convey the cultural fabric of the time.

Artist & collection

Museum

Metropolitan Museum of Art

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