Bird on a branch

Description

Perched among pear blossoms, a bird (probably a sparrow) sings to welcome the spring. The tradition of bird and flower painting to which this image belongs dates back to the Tang period (618–907); in the Southern Sung (1127–1279) court it became a dominant mode as emperors themselves took up brushes to produce highly refined, delicate-colored paintings in an intimate format. Throughout their long history, these apparently straightforward and charming paintings conveyed symbolic or allegorical messages for the knowledgeable viewer. In the Sung dynasty, a precarious period during which the state was constantly threatened by the semi-nomadic dynasties of the north, birds and flowers often carried symbolic meanings aimed at bolstering imperial legitimacy. This Early Ming painting executed in the in the style of the Southern Sung court celebrates the dynasty that restored Han Chinese rule after nearly a century of Mongol rule during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). The blossoming pear tree is a symbol of wise and benevolent administration, while the singing bird symbolizes the loyal scholar-official, overjoyed by the restoration of traditional Chinese government.
(Gallery Rotation Fall 2011)
Gallery Rotation Fall 2011
Bird on a branch
China, Ming Period (1368–1644)
ca. 1420–35
Album leaf, ink and colors on silk
Gift of Dorothy Dunlap Cahill, 2002/2.353
Perched among pear blossoms, a bird (probably a sparrow) sings to welcome the spring. The tradition of bird and flower painting to which this image belongs dates back to the Tang period (618–907); in the Southern Sung (1127–1279) court it became a dominant mode as emperors themselves took up brushes to produce highly refined, delicate-colored paintings in an intimate format. Throughout their long history, these apparently straightforward and charming paintings conveyed symbolic or allegorical messages for the knowledgeable viewer. In the Sung dynasty, a precarious period during which the state was constantly threatened by the semi-nomadic dynasties of the north, birds and flowers often carried symbolic meanings aimed at bolstering imperial legitimacy. This Early Ming painting executed in the in the style of the Southern Sung court celebrates the dynasty that restored Han Chinese rule after nearly a century of Mongol rule during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). The blossoming pear tree is a symbol of wise and benevolent administration, while the singing bird symbolizes the loyal scholar-official, overjoyed by the restoration of traditional Chinese government.