Chinese painting of flowers and birds

Author: Chen Lin, edited by Cui Jiuxu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-07-01
Features: Flower-and-bird painting is a genre of painting that takes flowers, grasses, insects, fish, vegetables, fruits, birds, and beasts as its subjects and content. It has a long history and profound cultural connotations in China. After the classification of Chinese painting in the Tang Dynasty, through the development during the Five Dynasties and the Two Song periods, flower-and-bird painting occupied an equally important position in the history of Chinese painting alongside landscape and figure painting. Flower-and-bird painting is divided into two major categories: meticulous () and freehand ()., the emergence and development of flower-and-bird painting followed the sequence of meticulous painting first, followed by freehand painting. Strictly speaking, true freehand flower-and-bird painting only began to appear in the middle of the Tang Dynasty and gradually evolved into a major school. Especially after being inspired by the new trend of literati painting during the Ming and Qing dynasties, freehand flower-and-bird painting ultimately dominated the Chinese painting scene, reaching the peak of literati painting in the late Qing Dynasty.