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Flowers, birds, and insects
Formerly attributed to Qian Xuan 錢選 (late 13th century)
15th century
- Medium
- Ink and color on silk
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- H x W (image): 33.8 x 272.6 cm (13 5/16 x 107 5/16 in)
- Culture
- Chinese
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), 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 Smithsonian Institution
About this work
Bamboo and a variety of flowers, including squash flowers, daisies, camellias, and dandelions, grow in a natural setting. Butterflies, bees, and beetles appear throughout the scroll. A warbler and a pair of finches cling to the flower and berry braches searching for small insects. This well-composed and executed painting, which is based on a Sung work, bears a spurious signature of Ch'ien Hsuan (c. 1235-1300).
