The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Lily and Butterflies

Lily and Butterflies

1300s
(Chinese, active 1300s)
Painting: 160 x 58.4 cm (63 x 23 in.); Overall with knobs: 277.7 x 85.2 cm (109 5/16 x 33 9/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The bird is the Chinese wagtail (motacilla chinensis).

Description

The bird is represented in pale ink, probably sketched in before the darker ink was used to finish the rock. Like the butterfly and moth above, his tail feathers echo the bamboo as well as the leaves and petals of the flowers. The Chinese wagtail can connote brotherly love. The daylily was used for various pharmaceutical purposes, especially for deadening pain in childbirth. It was also considered efficacious in relieving grief and aiding in the production of sons. The lily is in fact the real subject of this painting: it is the common symbol for motherly love. Hence, the lingering of the butterfly over a lily can signify a son's love, devotion, and yearning for his mother—the refuge from worldly woes.
  • 1600s
    Liang Qingbiao 梁清標 [1620–1691]
    ? by 1943–?
    Zhang Daqian 張大千 [1899–1983]
    ?–1971
    C. C. Wang 王季遷 [1907–2003], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1971–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Zhang, Daqian 張大千. Da feng tang shu hua lu 大風堂書畫錄. Chengdu: [publisher not identified], 1943. p. 10(a)
    Zhang Daqian 張大千. Taifudo meiseki 大風堂名蹟. Kyōto: Benrido, 1955. Reproduced: volume I, pl. 18
    The Art Quarterly, XXXV, no. 1 (Spring 1972). p. 81
    Lee, Sherman Emery, and James Robinson. The Colors of Ink: Chinese Paintings and Related Ceramics from the Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: Asia Society; distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1974. cat. no. 21
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 347 archive.org
    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. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 101-102, cat. no. 82
    Lee, Sherman E., and Wai-kam Ho. The Nature and Significance of the Collection of Liang Ch'ing-Piao. Taipei, Taiwan: Chung-hua ming-kuo, 1960. Mentioned: p. 134, no. 157
    Suzuki, Kei 鈴木敬. Chūgoku kaiga sōgō zuroku [中國繪畫總合圖錄 = Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings], 第 1卷. アメリカ·カナダ篇 [= vol. 1 American and Canadian collections]. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai, 1982. Mentioned and Reproduced: #A22-005, p. 1-260
    Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan 國立故宮博物院. Hai wai yi zhen. Hui hua. 海外遺珎. 繪畫. Zhonghua min guo Taibei Shi Shilin qu: Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan, 1985. Reproduced: fig. 96, p. 101
    Tōkyō Daigaku 東京大学. Kaigai shozai Chūgoku kaiga mokuroku [海外所在中国絵画目錄. アメリカカナダ編 = Catalogue of Chinese paintings in foreign collections: America and Canada]. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Daigaku Tōyō Bunka Kenkyūjo Fuzoku Tōyōgaku Bunken Sentā, 1994. p. 63
    Yang, Kathleen 楊凱琳, and Chi-chʻien Wang 王季遷. Through a Chinese connoisseur's eye: private notes of C.C. Wang 王季遷讀書筆記. Beijing: Zhong hua shu ju, 2010. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 308, no. 20
  • Scholar's Studio. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19-December 17, 1989).
    Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982).
    The Colors of Ink. Asia House Galleries (January 10-March 3, 1974); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 9-May 12, 1974).
    Year in Review: 1971. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1971-February 6, 1972).
  • {{cite web|title=Lily and Butterflies|url=false|author=Liu Shanshou|year=1300s|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.132