Artwork
清 佚名 山禽海棠 扇|Flowers with Birds
清 佚名 山禽海棠 扇|Flowers with Birds is an ink painting. It dates from 1639 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This work, titled “Flowers with Birds,” is an anonymous Chinese fan painted on silk.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Executed in ink and color on silk, the piece originally functioned as a fan before being mounted as an album leaf.
Created in 1639 by an anonymous Chinese artist, this work depicts a composition of birds amidst flowering plants. Executed in ink and color on silk, the piece originally functioned as a fan before being mounted as an album leaf. The imagery focuses strictly on natural elements, presenting an arrangement of avian figures and blossoms without additional narrative context or human presence.
While the specific species of the flora and fauna are not detailed in available records, the combination serves as a traditional representation of nature's vitality within the genre of flower-and-bird painting.
Technique & Style
Created in 1639, this work is executed in ink and color on a silk support. Although originally fashioned as a fan, the piece has been mounted as an album leaf. The composition features an arrangement of birds and flowers, rendered with the delicate handling characteristic of Chinese courtly or literati traditions on this intimate scale. The artwork measures 27.3 cm in height and 27.0 cm in width.
History & Provenance
The album leaf Flowers with Birds is dated to 1639, a creation date confirmed across the catalogue and Wikidata record for the work. It was produced in China and executed in ink and color on silk, originally formatted as a fan before being remounted as an album leaf. The piece is attributed to an anonymous Chinese painter rather than a documented named artist, so no individual commissioner, workshop, or patron is recorded in the available records.
Its present-day ownership is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which holds it in its paintings collection. No intermediate ownership history, prior collectors, or chain of custody between the seventeenth-century creation and the museum's acquisition is documented in the available sources.
Context
An anonymous Chinese fan painting dated 1639, titled 山禽海棠 (Flowers with Birds), exemplifies the bird-and-flower decorative tradition prevalent in seventeenth-century workshops. The work, executed in ink and color on silk and mounted as an album leaf, measures 27.3 cm by 27.0 cm and is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, reflecting its recognition as a representative example of the genre. Scholarship situates the piece within the broader context of anonymous decorative painting in China, highlighting its role in illustrating the aesthetic preferences of the period and its contribution to the study of anonymous artistic production.
Overview
This work, titled “Flowers with Birds,” is an anonymous Chinese fan painted on silk. Executed with ink and mineral pigments, the composition occupies the surface of a folding fan, a format that combines functional object and decorative art. The piece exemplifies the delicate balance between line work and color that characterizes many traditional Chinese fan paintings.
Artist & collection
