Here a flower-and-bird scene take center stage in a traditional wall scroll, made for close, quiet looking. The flower-and-bird tradition drew painters back for generations; this scroll proves it still has life. Study it a while and plum blossom, bamboo and rock emerge from the background, each one carefully observed.
As an ink wash flower and bird painting, it sits comfortably alongside much older pieces without feeling like a copy. It is the kind of image scholars once hung for its meaning as much as its beauty: plum blossom opens in the cold, the emblem of perseverance. The coloring is ink tones and soft grays, in the mineral-pigment manner that ages gracefully. You can feel spring turning in it: fresh growth, returning birds, branches coming into flower. One cord, one nail: the scroll hangs flat and true, in the time-honored fashion.
All it needs is wall space and reasonable light — it handles the atmosphere by itself. If someone you know is assembling a Chinese art collection, this makes an easy, welcome gift. It is a fine example of plum blossom and bamboo Chinese painting, the kind of piece that grows on you.
