- Provenance
- Provenance research underway.
- Label
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Hua Yan apprenticed in the family business of papermaking, but ultimately became a well-known painter. He specialized in depictions of amusing, animated birds and animals, and developed a personal style of dry, light brushwork. Some of Hua Yan's paintings can be read as social commentary. This scroll may have been created as political satire, since a squirrel can symbolize a small-minded, greedy man who nonetheless achieves high position.
Most of Hua Yan's paintings incorporate a brief inscription. This combination of pictorial imagery and calligraphy is typical of eighteenth-century Qing dynasty style and is seen in both paintings and porcelain design. Artists in these two media also found common ground in the use of similar motifs.
- Published References
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- Suzuki Kei. Chugoku kaiga sogo zuroku [Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Painting]. 5 vols., Tokyo, 1982-1983. vol. 1: p. 251.
- Ka Bo Tsang. Squirrels in Garden: A Painting by Hua Yen. vol. 14.2, Summer 1981. p. 10.
- Howard Rogers, Sherman Lee. Masterworks of Ming and Qing Painting from the Forbidden City. Exh. cat. Lansdale, PA. pp. 94, 187-9, pl. 60.
- Collection Area(s)
- Chinese Art
- Web Resources
- Google Cultural Institute
- SI Usage Statement
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CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)
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Usage Conditions Apply
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.
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International Image Interoperability Framework
FS-7425_14