Tea Blossoms, Pine Branches and Mynah Bird

Description

This painting is part of a centuries-long tradition of bird and flower paintings (huaniao hua) in China. Its elements convey the effect of flowers in the early spring landscape and create a handsome design—pine branches stretching across the surface of the painting are dotted with the brilliant red of tea blossoms (a variety of the camellia), while the mynah bird spreads its wings as if about to alight on the tree.
Ren Xiong was a highly individualistic painter with a wide range of styles. A native of Xiaoshan in Zhejiang Province, just south of Shanghai, his loose and spontaneous style was a model for early twentieth-century painters in Shanghai, where Ren Xiong frequently traveled to sell his works to an eager market.