Red Leaves with a Hwamei Bird, Hanging Scroll
Hua Yan
Qing Dynasty
- MEDIUM:Ink and color on paper
- FORMATS:Hanging scroll
- DIMENSIONS:Height 115.0 cm; Width 47.5 cm
Introduction
Painted in the Ding-si year of the Qianlong reign(1747), when Hua Qian was fifty-six, this work captures a moment from his own poem. Just after waking, he vaguely heard birds singing outside his window. Rising and drawing aside the bamboo curtain, he saw a thrush perched atop a tree in the courtyard, its branches swaying with the wind and petals falling like rain. Struck by the beauty of the scene, Hua Qian captured this fleeting moment in his painting.
The branches and leaves in the painting are rendered in a freehand style, while the Thrush（Chinese Hwamei） is delicately outlined with fine brushwork and lightly colored. Hua Qian’s genuine affection for the bird is evident, giving it a lively, agile posture and expressive, lifelike presence. The work not only demonstrates Hua Qian’s exceptional artistic skill but also embodies the refined aesthetic sensibility of a literati painter.
