Teaching Parrots to Speak

Dateearly 17th century

MediumHanging scroll; ink and color on silk

DimensionsOverall: 86 1/2 × 29 3/4 × 1 inches (219.71 × 75.57 × 2.54 cm)
Image: 48 1/2 × 23 7/8 inches (123.19 × 60.64 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: the Asian Art Acquisition Fund in memory of Laurence Sickman

Object number2023.39.1

SignedArtist’s signature: “何龍” (He Long), and two seals: “玄之又玄” (Xuan zhi you xuan, Deep deeper yet, from Laozi), “何龍.”

Inscribed何処閒教鸚鵡語 Where is she leisurely teaching parrots to speak? 碧紗窗下繍床前 beneath a blue-curtained window before an embroidered bed. Translated by Hiroshi Kawasaki (Osaka) and Howard Rogers (Hawai'i)

On View

Not on view

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

Chinese

DescriptionThe composition of this painting is diagonally distributed into two halves, with the group of figures placed in the lower left half. The scene centers from a woman raising a whisk’s end to stimulate a red parrot perching on a bird stand. Three other women and a young girl casually watch, waiting to see how the bird would interact. More parrots rest on the tree branch or on the stand held by the girl. The ladies held their teaching in a scenic view featuring a pavilion near a creek and distant mountains floating in the mists. The inscription appears on the top right. This painting is paired with another “Playing Chess in an Elegant Garden,” by the same artist. The pair correspond to each other in the positions of motifs and inscriptions.Published References

Published References

Catalog of the collection from Viscount AKIMOTO Okitomo (1857-1917) 秋元子爵家御蔵器入札. Tokyo: Tokyo Art Society, May 14, 1917 [in Japanese]

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