Artwork
Untitled
Untitled is an ink painting. It dates from 1777 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The imagery combines botanical detail with a lively bird, characteristic of decorative subjects in 18th‑century Chinese art.
The painting Untitled, created in 1777, portrays a single flower alongside a parrot. Both motifs appear in the composition as the sole depicted elements. The work is executed as a fan‑mounted album leaf using ink and color on silk, placing it within the still‑life genre.
Its production took place in China, and it is presently held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The imagery combines botanical detail with a lively bird, characteristic of decorative subjects in 18th‑century Chinese art.
Technique & Style
The work is executed in ink and color on silk, mounted as an album leaf in the form of a fan. Such fan-mounted album leaves were a common format in Chinese painting, allowing the silk support to be preserved within a bound album. The still life composition renders flowers and a parrot in ink and color, a combination suited to the absorbent qualities of silk, which permits delicate washes and layered pigment.
The piece measures 26.7 cm in height by 23.8 cm in width, a compact format consistent with the fan-as-album-leaf tradition.
Stylistically, the pairing of flora with a parrot is a conventional auspicious motif in Chinese decorative painting, often associated with good fortune and marital harmony. The use of fine brushwork on silk, combined with the fan format, situates the work within the refined album-leaf tradition rather than monumental hanging-scroll painting.
History & Provenance
The work, titled Untitled, was created in 1777 in China by an anonymous artist. Originally executed as a fan, the piece was later mounted as an album leaf using ink and color on silk. It currently resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which holds the painting as part of its holdings of Chinese art. The artwork measures 26.7 cm in height and 23.8 cm in width.
Overview
This work consists of a painted fan that has been incorporated into an album leaf, a format traditionally used to preserve and present small-scale artworks. Executed with ink and pigments on silk, the piece measures within the dimensions typical for handheld fans, allowing it to serve both decorative and functional purposes while remaining portable within a bound collection.
Artist & collection
南宋 佚名 竹梅小禽圖 團扇|Sparrows, plum blossoms, and bamboo
Five-colored parakeet on a blossoming apricot tree
Untitled
明 佚名（舊傳宋徽宗） 荔枝圖 冊頁|Bird on a Lychee Branch
明 佚名 （舊傳）吳炳 枇杷 扇|Bird on a Loquat Tree
Bird on a Flowering Branch
摺物帖 『春雨集』 『花鳥六番之内 下野宇都宮』 桃に山鳩|Spring Rain Collection (Harusame shū), vol. 3: Mountain Dove and Peach Flowers
