Chinese bulbuls on flowering crab apple
This painting encodes a visual pun called a rebus: the bulbul bird, known as the “white-headed old man” (baitou weng 白頭翁) in Chinese, combined with the crab-apple tree (haitang 海棠) evokes the phrase “white heads at the front of the hall” (tangshang baitou 堂上白頭), an auspicious wish for shared longevity for the matriarch and patriarch of a family. Though bearing a fake inscription and seals of the Northern Song emperor Huizong (1082–1135; r. 1100–25), this fine painting shows qualities of the fourteenth-century painters Wang Yuan and Zhang Zhong and may be dated to that time based on its style.
Artwork Details
- 元/明 佚名 宋徽宗 偽款 白頭海棠圖 卷
- Title: Chinese bulbuls on flowering crab apple
- Artist: Unidentified artist
- Period: Yuan (1271–1368) or Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
- Date: 14th century
- Culture: China
- Medium: Handscroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 11 3/4 in. × 25 in. (29.8 × 63.5 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: From the Collection of A. W. Bahr, Purchase, Fletcher Fund, 1947
- Object Number: 47.18.149
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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