Octagonal dish with flowering plum and magpies
Flowering plums and birds often appear together in paintings and poetry from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Because plum is one of the first blossoms to emerge at the end of winter, the motif is a harbinger of spring. This dish portrays the flowers in a range from bud to full bloom. The depiction derives from the influential mid-thirteenth-century Manual of Plum Blossom Likeness (Meihua xishen pu), which details different stages in the life of the delicate flower.
Artwork Details
- 元 黑漆嵌螺鈿梅鵲紋八方盤
- Title: Octagonal dish with flowering plum and magpies
- Period: Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
- Date: 14th century
- Culture: China
- Medium: Black lacquer with mother-of-pearl inlay
- Dimensions: H. 1/8 in. (.3 cm); Diam.11 5/8 in. (29.5 cm)
- Classification: Lacquer
- Credit Line: Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, in honor of James C. Y. Watt, 2011
- Object Number: 2011.120.2
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Chinese
1368–1644
Korea
18th century
Chinese
1368–1644
China
14th century
Yi or Nuosu (Chinese, Yunnan or Sichuan)
900–1400
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