Artwork Page for A Hundred Birds and the Three Friends

Details / Information for A Hundred Birds and the Three Friends

A Hundred Birds and the Three Friends

三友百禽圖

1400–1425

Bian Wenjin 邊文進

(Chinese, about 1354–1428)
Culture
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Medium
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Measurements
Painting: 153.5 x 95.4 cm (60 7/16 x 37 9/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 245 x 110 cm (96 7/16 x 43 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 1980.12
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

In this hanging scroll birds rest and frolic among pines, bamboo, and flowering plum, plants known as “the three friends.” Due to their endurance in winter, they symbolize perseverance and friendship in adverse times. The naturalistic depiction of the birds refers to the bird-and-flower painting tradition of the Art Academy of the Song dynasty.

The painter Bian Wenjin served at the court of the Ming dynasty Yongle Emperor (reigned 1402–24). This painting may have been hung in a private studio or palace hall on appropriate occasions.
A vertical hanging scroll in muted tan and ink on silk swarms with birds among bamboo and flowering plum. Four large black and white magpies appear: two perch at the upper left, one flies toward the center, and one stands below. Dozens of small brown birds cluster throughout, filling spaces between gnarled rocks and bamboo stalks that lean in from the left, with a red seal in the upper right.

A Hundred Birds and the Three Friends

1400–1425

Bian Wenjin

(Chinese, about 1354–1428)
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

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