Peony
Painting
1800-1830 (made)
1800-1830 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The peony, called 'mu dan' in Chinese, was and still is a common garden flower in south China. Unfamiliar flora and fauna were of great interest to British botanists in the 18th and 19th centuries, and such enthusiasm gradually filtered down to the general public. Travellers often returned to Britain with foreign plants and, more commonly, paintings depicting numerous species of tropical flowers and fruits.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Peony (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Watercolour and ink on Chinese paper |
| Brief description | Painting, 'Peony', watercolour and ink on paper, Canton, China, 1800-1830 |
| Physical description | Rectangular watercolour painting depicting a flower on plain ground. Two pink flower heads of layered petals grow from a brown branch with a series of green leaves that have a serrated edge. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Object history | Unfamiliar flora and fauna had strong appeal to British botanists in the 18th/19th century, and such interest gradually filtered down to the general public. Travellers brought back to Britain foreign plants and more commonly, paintings depicting the numerous species of tropical flowers and fruits. The peony, called 'mu dan' in Chinese, was and still is a common garden flower in south China. Purchased from a source not recorded in the Asia Department registers, accessioned in 1890. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | The peony, called 'mu dan' in Chinese, was and still is a common garden flower in south China. Unfamiliar flora and fauna were of great interest to British botanists in the 18th and 19th centuries, and such enthusiasm gradually filtered down to the general public. Travellers often returned to Britain with foreign plants and, more commonly, paintings depicting numerous species of tropical flowers and fruits. |
| Bibliographic reference | Souvenir from Canton : Chinese export paintings from the Victoria and Albert Museum, Shanghai, 2003
241 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | D.108-1890 |
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| Record created | October 30, 2002 |
| Record URL |
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