The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 6, 2025

Vertically long hanging scroll depicting a variety of birds scattered among foliage and flowers, a willow tree curving in on the upper right, with fine strands speckled with leaves drooping down over the scene. A peacock crouches in the center, looking down at a peahen plucking a dandelion. The flowers are frilly and brighter than the surrounding muted greens and browns. More birds fly and perch on the tree.

Birds Gather under the Spring Willow

late 1400s-early 1500

Yin Hong

(Chinese, c. 1430-c. 1500)
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
Painting: 240 x 195.5 cm (94 1/2 x 76 15/16 in.); Overall with knobs: 280 x 204 cm (110 1/4 x 80 5/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1974.31
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The peahen is plucking a dandelion.

Description

This scroll depicts a spring scene with all kinds of birds, including one peacock with a hen among peonies. The painting is one of four surviving works by Yin Hong bearing his signature and seals. Some scholars debate whether this work depicts the theme “One Hundred Birds admiring the Phoenix,” a metaphor for human society presenting an idealized hierarchy under imperial rule; other scholars argue that peafowls, as exotic birds not native to China, would not be depicted to represent the emperor.

This large painting might have been hung in a palace hall and may have been part of a set depicting the four seasons.
  • ?–November 1917
    Marquis Yoshitaka Satake 侯爵 佐竹義理 [1858–1914]
    November 3–5, 1917
    (Tōkyō Bijutsu Club 東京美術俱樂部, Tokyo, Japan, November 3–5, 1917 sale, The Collection of the Marquis Satake Family 佐竹候爵家御蔵)
    ?–1974
    (Fugendo Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1974-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Satake Koshaku-ke gozoki nyusatsu [佐竹候爵家御蔵噐入札 = Sale Catalogue of the Collection of the Marquis Satake Family], Tōkyō Bijutsu Club, November 3-5, 1917. cat. no 46
    Lee, Sherman E. “Early Ming Painting at the Imperial Court.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 62, no. 8, 1975, pp. 243–259. Reproduced: pp. 297, 298, cover, fig. 18. 25152602
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 348 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. Reproduced: cat. no. 124, p. 148
    Barnhart, Richard M., Mary Ann Rogers, and Richard Stanley-Baker. Painters of the Great Ming: The Imperial Court and the Zhe School. Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1993. Reproduced: p. 97, fig. 46
    Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 92–93
    Sung, Hou-Mei. “The Three Yin Masters of the Ming Court: Yin Shan, Yin Xie and Yin Hong.” Artibus Asiae, vol. 58, no. 1/2, 1998, pp. 91–113. Reproduced: fig. 6, p. 102 www.jstor.org
    Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, and New York Botanical Garden. Chinese Peony Exhibition: May 5-June 4, 2000 in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Bronx, NY: The Garden, 2000. Reproduced: cover
    Sesshū: botsugo 500-nen tokubetsuten [雪舟 : 没後 500年特别展 = Sesshu, master of ink and brush: 500th anniversary exhibition]. Tokyo: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 2002. cat. no. 43
    Sayre, Henry M. Cave Paintings to Picasso: The Inside Scoop on 50 Art Masterpieces. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2004. Reproduced: p. 46
    Stokstad, Marilyn, David Cateforis, and Stephen Addiss. Art History. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005. Reproduced: fig. 21-4
    Schoeser, Mary. Silk. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007. Reproduced: pp. 90–91
    Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael Watt Cothren. Art History. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2014. Reproduced: fig. 25-4, p. 798
    Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 233–236
    Jang, Scarlett (張珠玉). Art, Politics, and Palace Eunuchs in Ming China, 1368-1644. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2026. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 99–100, fig. 4.1
  • Layers of Meaning: China’s Flora and Fauna in Painting and on Porcelain. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 6, 2020-June 6, 2021).
    Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 242). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 28, 2014-January 7, 2015).
    Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 16-October 28, 2003).
    Sesshu, Master of Ink and Brush: 500th Anniversary Exhibition. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (April 23-May 19, 2002).
    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).
    Year in Review: 1974. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 11-April 6, 1975).
  • {{cite web|title=Birds Gather under the Spring Willow|url=false|author=Yin Hong|year=late 1400s-early 1500|access-date=06 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1974.31