The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Flowers and Rocks

1368–1644

China, Ming dynasty

(1368–1644)
hanging scroll, color on silk
Overall: 162.6 x 48.6 cm (64 x 19 1/8 in.)
Gift of Charles L. Freer 1915.116
Location: Not on view

Description

Here, the painter uses delicate brushwork and vivid colors to depict an early summer scene of three kinds of flowers growing beside a garden rock: From top to bottom we see flowering pomegranate, then peonies, and lilies below. Like the peony, which conveys wishes for wealth and prosperity, the pomegranate flower, here in festive red color turning soon into fruit with many seeds, is associated with the wish for many sons. The lily, in Chinese "baihe," is a homophone with the pun "togetherness for a hundred years," expressing wishes for harmony and unity. The scroll would have made a suitable gift to married women.
  • ?-1915
    Charles L. Freer [1854-1919], Detroit, MI, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1915-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Flowers and Rocks|url=false|author=|year=1368–1644|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1915.116