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A Hundred Birds and the Three Friends
Bian Wenjin (Chinese, about 1354–1428)
1400–1425
- Medium
- hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Painting: 153.5 x 95.4 cm (60 7/16 x 37 9/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 245 x 110 cm (96 7/16 x 43 5/16 in.)
- Culture
- China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
In this hanging scroll birds rest and frolic among pines, bamboo, and flowering plum, plants known as “the three friends.” Due to their endurance in winter, they symbolize perseverance and friendship in adverse times. The naturalistic depiction of the birds refers to the bird-and-flower painting tradition of the Art Academy of the Song dynasty.
The painter Bian Wenjin served at the court of the Ming dynasty Yongle Emperor (reigned 1402–24). This painting may have been hung in a private studio or palace hall on appropriate occasions.
