Flowers and Rocks
1506
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1506
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Flowers and Rocks is a 1506 unspecified by Unknown, a Ming Painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see three flowers—pomegranate, peony, and lily—growing beside a jagged rock. The colors are bright, the brushstrokes light and careful. Each flower carries a wish. The pomegranate means many children. The peony stands for wealth. The lily sounds like the word for "together" in Chinese. People in the Ming dynasty painted these symbols to bring good luck. Look up *china, ming dynasty (1368–1644)* to see more of these quiet, hopeful gardens.
Here, the painter uses delicate brushwork and vivid colors to depict an early summer scene of three kinds of flowers growing beside a garden rock: From top to bottom we see flowering pomegranate, then peonies, and lilies below. Like the peony, which conveys wishes for wealth and prosperity, the pomegranate flower, here in festive red color turning soon into fruit with many seeds, is associated with the wish for many sons. The lily, in Chinese " baihe, " is a homophone with the pun "togetherness for a hundred years," expressing wishes for harmony and unity. The scroll would have made a…
Read the full account in the museum source.
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