Peony
Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, OK, 1948.
Chinese Paintings of Birds and Flowers, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, October 30-December 14, 1951.
Album Leaves, China Institute in America, New York, March 25-May 30, 1970
The peony has been a favorite flower in Chinese art for hundreds of years, as evidenced in this full bloom splashing its pinkish white charms. The oversized bloom earned the name King of the Flowers, and its meaning changes depending upon the occasion. In literature, the peony is associated with a beautiful woman’s seductive charm. In painting, the flower celebrates prosperity and nobility, qualities every family wants.
Yamanaka & Co.;
Purchased from Yamanaka & Co. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1933.
Benjamin Rowland, Masterpieces of Chinese Bird and Flower Painting, Fogg Art museum, (Cambridge, Massachusetts: 1951), 13, no.3.
Chi-Ch’ien Wang, Album Leaves from the Sung and Yuan Dynasties, China House Gallery (New York: China House Gallery, 1970), 15, 40 no. 13.
Wai-Kam Ho, et al., Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and The Cleveland Museum of Art. (The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, c1980), 27, no.15.
