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Flowers of the Four Seasons 四季花卉圖

Horizontal image of four distinct cut or uprooted flowers rendered in fine black ink. The first three feature small leaves and blossoms, the fourth a large central bloom.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • Horizontal image of four distinct cut or uprooted flowers rendered in fine black ink. The first three feature small leaves and blossoms, the fourth a large central bloom.

Date:

Qing dynasty (1644–1912), dated 1659

Artist:

Chen Jiayan 陳嘉言 (Chinese, 1539-after 1625)

About this artwork

The artist of this softly monochromatic handscroll evokes the passage of time with plants that bloom in sequence throughout the four seasons. The flowers of spring—tree peony, spring cymbidium, astor, peach, iris, and rose—flow into summer, beginning with the white magnolia (yulan) and crab apple (haitang). Together, these last two flowers comprise a rebus or visual pun for the auspicious phrase “yutang fugui:” “wealth and rank in the Jade Hall.” The Jade Hall alludes to the Hanlin Academy, a government bureau where esteemed scholars were appointed to compile documents for the imperial court. The opening section shown here depicts the first three flowers of spring.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Arts of Asia

Artist

Chen Jiayan

Title

Flowers of the Four Seasons 四季花卉圖

Place

China (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1539–1625

Medium

Handscroll; ink on paper

Dimensions

28.5 × 398 cm (10 7/8 × 152 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Kate S. Buckingham Fund

Reference Number

1951.186

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/75317/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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