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Luzon bleeding-heart doves (Gallicolumba luzonica)
A watercolour drawing from the album 4171. This image depicts a pair of Luzon bleeding-heart doves (Gallicolumba luzonica) perched together on a flowering branch. The birds display the species' characteristic soft grey-green plumage with pale silvery-white underparts, creating a harmonious and subdued color palette. Most notably, both birds show the distinctive bright red patch on their breast that gives the bleeding-heart dove its evocative name, appearing like a vivid crimson stain against their pale chest feathers. The painting demonstrates the fine brushwork characteristic of Chinese export art from the late 18th or early 19th century, combining ornithological documentation and traditional Chinese flower-and-bird painting style.
Height: 250 mm
Width: 337 mm
Method of acquisition: Given (1909) by Bothamley, Rev. H.
Export album made for the Western market
Chinese
Chinese export art
Chinese export watercolour
Watercolour
Bodycolour
White highlights
Ink
Support composed of pith paper
Drawing : Watercolour, bodycolour and ink with heightening in white on pith paper, laid down with with strips of blue silk-covered paper
Accession number: 4171.11
Primary reference Number: 185673
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Paintings, Drawings and Prints
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Luzon bleeding-heart doves (Gallicolumba luzonica)" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/185673 Accessed: 2025-12-08 19:36:09
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/185673
|title=Luzon bleeding-heart doves (Gallicolumba luzonica)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-08 19:36:09|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-185673
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp82/large_4171_2811_29_201106_amt49_dc2.jpg"
alt="Luzon bleeding-heart doves (Gallicolumba luzonica)"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Luzon bleeding-heart doves (Gallicolumba luzonica)</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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