Introduction

Dates：2015/04/01 ~ 2015/06/25
Galleries：208, 210

The beautiful colors of birds and flowers, being full of rhythm and vitality, always evoke images of beauty, which is why artists have repeatedly turned to these subjects over the ages. As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, more than two millennia ago, birds and flowers were already important decorative motifs in Chinese art. And by the Tang dynasty, when the techniques of painting began to mature, "birds and flowers" had become an independent category in art. Chinese painting then reached a level of maturity as its methods further developed and diversified in the Five Dynasties period during the tenth century. In the following Song dynasty, "bird-and-flower painting" experienced a heyday, when the idea of "sketching from life" to render forms as they appear in nature became the trend. Then, when literati art took hold in the fourteenth century during the Yuan dynasty, bird-and-flower painting came under its influence, adding the untrammeled aura of monochrome ink to this category. Artists in the subsequent Ming and Qing dynasties followed traditions of the past as bird-and-flower painting in the "sketching ideas" manner blossomed. In all, painters depicting birds and flowers through the ages have constantly engaged in a dialogue with nature. With consummate techniques and spiritual sustenance, they have created a rich and spectacular tapestry of art.

In addition to painting, the subject of birds and flowers also became popular in the textile arts of tapestry and embroidery, crafts with a long history in China and originally used to decorate clothing. But with advancing techniques and rising aesthetic standards, artisans eventually began looking to paintings for inspiration, even taking them as models for their own works. Using nimble needlework and refined textile methods, imitations of painting soon emerged in tapestry. Starting from the Song dynasty, artistic forms of tapestry and embroidery appeared for the sole sake of appreciation, their silk threads manipulated like brushwork to convey extraordinary expressions of art.

Artworks related to birds and flowers in the National Palace Museum collection abound in terms of both quality and quantity. This special selection on the subject has been divided into five sections: "The Vitality of Things Observed," "The Beauty of Decoration," "The Ingenuity of Composition," "The Meaning of Metaphor," and "The Wonders of Technique." On the one hand, this exhibit presents the ideas of artists and their skillful arrangements of motifs while also exploring the metaphors and symbols that give further meaning to the unique features and artistic accomplishments of these works. On the other hand, this display of two-dimensional artworks featuring birds and flowers brings painting together with other mediums, such as tapestry, embroidery, lacquered-silk painting, and rare books, offering clues to their interrelationship. As audiences admire these marvelous works, they will hopefully come away with an even greater understanding of the varied facets to birds and flowers in Chinese art.