id: 152556 accession number: 1985.371 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1985.371 updated: 2023-03-14 12:01:27.613000 Bird on a Flowering Branch, 1100s. China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). Album leaf mounted as a hanging scroll, ink and color on silk; painting: 23.8 x 24.5 cm (9 3/8 x 9 5/8 in.); overall: 117 x 41.7 cm (46 1/16 x 16 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith 1985.371 title: Bird on a Flowering Branch title in original language: 白梅與禽 series: series in original language: creation date: 1100s creation date earliest: 1100 creation date latest: 1199 current location: creditline: The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith copyright: --- culture: China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) technique: album leaf mounted as a hanging scroll, ink and color on silk department: Chinese Art collection: ASIAN - Album leaf type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Painting: 23.8 x 24.5 cm (9 3/8 x 9 5/8 in.); Overall: 117 x 41.7 cm (46 1/16 x 16 7/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: 2 seals: 1 official seal of the Yuan Dynasty; 1 unidentified partial seal. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection opening date: 1988-09-14T04:00:00 A Private World: Japanese and Chinese Art from the Kelvin Smith Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 14-November 13, 1988). title: Greeting the Spring (Chinese art rotation, galleries 240a, 239, 241c) opening date: 2017-02-11T05:00:00 Greeting the Spring (Chinese art rotation, galleries 240a, 239, 241c). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 11-August 13, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 10-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982). * Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 16-July 13, 2004). --- PROVENANCE Marquis Inoue date: footnotes: citations: (Jean-Pierre Dubosc [1903-1988], Paris, France, sold to Mr. and Mrs. Kelvin Smith) date: footnotes: citations: The Kelvin Smith Collection, Cleveland, OH, given by Mrs. Kelvin [Eleanor Armstrong] Smith [1899-1998] to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?-1985 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1985- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The seal at the upper left is an official Yuan dynasty seal used on paintings and calligraphy in the imperial collection. digital description: wall description: A male redstart, a type of small bird, sits hunched on the branch of a flowering plum tree in early spring. The bird’s plumage is rendered in fine detail with a great naturalistic sense, characteristic of Southern Song court painting. While redstarts tend to spend the winter in warmer climates, they may have been seen during the mild winters in China’s southeast in Hangzhou, the seat of the former imperial painting academy where this album leaf was presumably produced. The small square painting must have once been part of an album. When collected in Japan, it was mounted as a hanging scroll, presumably to fit it in an alcove to be enjoyed during the tea ceremony. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Ho, Wai-kam, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman, and Marc F. Wilson. Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 59, cat. no. 44 url: Laozi 老子 and James Legge, translator. Tao Te Ching 道德经. New York: Metro Books, 2008. page number: Reproduced: fig. 24 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.371/1985.371_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.371/1985.371_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1985.371/1985.371_full.tif