Flower and Bird Chinese Scroll Painting – Silk Wall Art – Mandarin Duck Chrysanthemum

Here a flower-and-bird scene take center stage in a traditional wall scroll, made for close, quiet looking. It is the flower-and-bird theme that defines this scroll: familiar ground, seen as if for the first time. The painter didn't skimp on detail — peony, chrysanthemum and mandarin duck all get their moment.

It hangs comfortably near antique flower-and-bird pieces — related by spirit, not imitation. It is the kind of image scholars once hung for its meaning as much as its beauty: the chrysanthemum is autumn's flower — reclusion, integrity and long life. Autumn runs through it — ripe color, clear air, the year turning, and the scroll knows it. Hang it at eye level and it pulls viewers in gently, without taking over.

For collectors of the flower-and-bird genre, this is a scroll that settles in without fuss. If someone you know is assembling a Chinese art collection, this makes an easy, welcome gift. It is a fine example of peony and chrysanthemum Chinese painting, the kind of piece that grows on you.