Bird-and-flower painting, called () in

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

, is a kind of

Chinese painting Chinese painting () is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Painting in the traditional style is known today in Chinese as , meaning "national painting" or "native painting", as opposed to Western styles of art which b ...

with a long tradition in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and is considered one of the treasures of

Chinese culture Chinese culture () is one of the Cradle of civilization#Ancient China, world's earliest cultures, said to originate five thousand years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia called the Sinosphere as a whole ...

. The was named after its subject matter. It originated in the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

where it gained popularity, matured by the end of that period and during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and fully reached its peak during the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

. Most paintings belong to the scholar-artist style of Chinese painting. In the coming centuries, the genre gained popularity and spread throughout the

East Asian cultural sphere The Sinosphere, also known as the Chinese cultural sphere, East Asian cultural sphere, or the Sinic world, encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically heavily influenced by Chinese culture. The Sinosph ...

. It also had an influence on

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian painting in the ' genre of illustration for book covers and

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

Intended purpose and cultural significance

According to Chinese tradition, the covers "flowers, birds, fish, and insects" (); thus, it can deal with a wide range of natural topics, including flowers, fish, insects, birds, pets (dogs, cats), etc. The paintings are inspired by the resilience and the beauty of the flowers and birds found in

nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

. The intended purpose of the was not simply to imitate nature, but to use different painting styles to convey the personality and ideas of the artist. In Chinese culture, different types of birds and flowers hold their own symbolic meanings; with some of them even holding auspicious meanings, scholarly and human virtues, as well as principles. Scholar-artists, in particular, developed a freehand-style of painting as a means to express their emotions. They considered Chinese calligraphy and poetry as being an integral component of their painting by giving their ares a deeper spiritual meaning.

Schools and great artists

The is proper of 10th century China; and the two most representative artists of this period are Huang Quan () (c. 900 – 965), who was an imperial painter for many years, and Xu Xi () (937–975), who came from a prominent family but never entered into officialdom.Both Huang Quan and Xu Xi were masters of their two schools. The first school, led by Huang Quan, was characterized by an "outline" method of brush work, with emphasis on bright colours filling a meticulously detailed outline (). Huang Quan's paintings were based on exotic flowers, herbs, rare birds and animals which were found in the imperial gardens and palaces; his paintings were characterized by their meticulous nature as well as their bright colours. Huang Quan's painting style was thus acclaimed as (). The second school was led by Xu Xi whose painting style became known as ().His school was typically characterized with the use techniques associated with

ink wash painting Ink wash painting ( zh, t=水墨畫, s=水墨画, p=shuǐmòhuà) is a type of Chinese ink brush painting which uses Wash (visual arts), washes of black ink, such as that used in East Asian calligraphy, in different concentrations. It emerged duri ...

().Marco, Meccarelli. 2015.
"Chinese Painters in Nagasaki: Style and Artistic Contaminatio during the Tokugawa Period (1603–1868)"
Ming Qing Studies 2015, Pages 175–236. These two schools had important influences on paintings of the later centuries.

Varieties based on painting technique

According to painting technique: *

Ink wash painting Ink wash painting ( zh, t=水墨畫, s=水墨画, p=shuǐmòhuà) is a type of Chinese ink brush painting which uses Wash (visual arts), washes of black ink, such as that used in East Asian calligraphy, in different concentrations. It emerged duri ...

(水墨花鳥/水墨花鳥畫). Representatives: Lin Liang ( 林良),

Qi Baishi Qi Baishi (1 January 1864 – 16 September 1957) was a Chinese painting, Chinese painter, noted for the whimsical, often playful style of his works. Born to a peasant family from Xiangtan, Hunan, Qi taught himself to paint, sparked by the Ma ...

( 齊白石),

Zhang Daqian Chang Dai-chien or Zhang Daqian (; 10 May 1899 – 2 April 1983) was one of the best-known and most prodigious Chinese artists of the twentieth century. Originally known as a '' guohua'' (traditionalist) painter, by the 1960s he was also renowne ...

( 張大千) *

Gongbi ''Gongbi'' () is a careful realist technique in Chinese painting, the opposite of the interpretive and freely expressive '' xieyi'' (寫意 'sketching thoughts') style. The name is from the Chinese ''gong jin'' meaning 'tidy' (meticulous brush ...

or fine-brush huaniao (工筆花鳥/工筆花鳥畫) **Gongbi with Ink Wash Painting (工筆水墨/兼工帶水墨). Representatives: Lin Liang ( 林良),

Ren Yi Ren Yi (; 1840–1896), also known as Ren Bonian, was a painter and son of a rice merchant who supplemented his income by doing portraits. He was born in Zhejiang, but after the death of his father in 1855 he lived in Shanghai. This move placed hi ...

( 任頤) **Gongbi with Colour (工彩) *** Gongbi with Heavy Colour (工筆重彩) *** Gongbi with Light Colour (工筆淡彩). Representatives: Emperor Huizong ( 趙佶), Lü Ji ( 呂紀), Lin Liang ( 林良) * Xieyi or freehand style (寫意花鳥/寫意花鳥畫) **Great xieyi (大寫意) **Slight xieyi (小寫意). Representatives:

Tang Yin Tang Yin (; 6 March 1470 – 7 January 1524), courtesy name Bohu () and Ziwei (子畏), was a Chinese painter, calligrapher, and poet of the Ming dynasty period. Even though he was born during the Ming dynasty, many of his paintings, especially t ...

( 唐寅),

Xu Wei Xu Wei (, 1521–1593), also known as Qingteng Shanren (), was a Chinese painter, playwright, poet, and tea master during the Ming dynasty. Cihai: Page 802.Barnhart: Page 232. Life Xu's courtesy names were Wenqing (文清) and then later Wenc ...

( 徐渭),

Wu Changshuo Wu Changshuo (, September 12, 1844 – November 29, 1927, also romanised as Wu Changshi, ), born Wu Junqing (), was a Chinese calligrapher, painter, and seal artist of the late Qing Period. Life Wu was born into a scholarly family in Hu ...

( 吳昌碩),

( 任頤) *Gongbi with xieyi(兼工帶寫) **Representatives: Lin Liang ( 林良),

( 唐寅),

Ma Quan Ma Quan (, dates unknown), courtesy name Jiangxiang (), was a Qing painter who lived during the late 17th–18th centuries, specialising in bird and flower painting. As a female artist who sold her paintings, Ma's art style is markedly different f ...

( 馬荃)

In Japan

Bird-and-flower painting was introduced to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

during the 14th century, and then to

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

. The bird-and-flower motif started appearing in

Japanese art Japanese art consists of a wide range of art styles and media that includes Jōmon pottery, ancient pottery, Japanese sculpture, sculpture, Ink wash painting, ink painting and Japanese calligraphy, calligraphy on silk and paper, Ukiyo-e, paint ...

around the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

during the 14th century, and developed its own distinct style. It also entered ''

ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...

'' woodblock printing, where it was known as ''kachō-e'' (花鳥絵). Especially the ''

shin hanga was an art movement in early 20th-century Japan, during the Taishō and Shōwa periods, that revitalized the traditional ''ukiyo-e'' art rooted in the Edo and Meiji periods (17th–19th century). It maintained the traditional ''ukiyo-e'' co ...

'' movement produced a number of works with this motif starting in the

Meiji era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...

. Artists working with this were

Ohara Koson Ohara Koson (also Ohara Hōson, Ohara Shōson) (Kanazawa 1877 – Tokyo 1945) was a Japanese painter and woodblock print designer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, at the forefront of '' shinsaku-hanga'' and ''shin-hanga'' art movem ...

(1877–1945) and Ito Sozan (1884–?), as well as Imao Keinen (1845–1924).

Gallery

File:10 ZhaoMengfu- Hoopoe on Bamboo. Shanghai mus..jpg, alt= File:Hua Yan - Birds and Flowers - Google Art Project.jpg, alt= File:Bian Jingzhao-Snow Plum and Twin Cranes.jpg, alt= File:Camellia and a Lonely Bird by Zhou Shuxi.jpg, alt=

References

External links

Chinese Flower Painting
at China Online Museum
Chinese Bird Painting
at China Online Museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Bird-And-Flower Painting Birds in art Chinese iconography Chinese painting Japanese iconography Japanese painting Korean iconography Korean painting Vietnamese painting