IDENTIFIERS
-----------
id:	23116
accession number:	PD.274-1973

DATE AUDIT
----------
created:	Saturday 6 August 2011
updated:	Thursday 28 August 2025

DESCRIPTIVE DATA
----------------
object type: This is a Chinese export watercolour depicting pink Chinese roses (Rosa chinesis) with two butterflies and a bee. The illustration features several branches with delicate pink roses in various stages of bloom. There are three fully opened roses - one on the left and two clustered together on the right; several rose buds are painted in deeper pink. The green leaves on the branches are arranged in the characteristic compound leaf pattern of roses. Some leaves show brown edges. On the left is a yellow butterfly with blue markings and black edges on the wings. On the top is a swallow tail butterfly with white and red spots along the edge of its wing. On the right is a bumble bee. A Chinese inscription at the lower left corner reads “changchun hua 長春花”, a common name for Rosa chinesis).  The painting demonstrates the fine brushwork characteristic of Chinese export art from the late 18th or early 19th century, combing traditional Chinese flower-and-bird painting style and Western botanical illustration. Previously described as “Roses in bud and bloom, surrounded by butterflies and insects”.
title:	drawing

LICENSING
---------
text license status:	CC0
image license status:	CC-BY-NC-SA

OWNERSHIP
---------
instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum
department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints
collection:	Broughton Collection

STABLE URL
----------
url:	https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/23116


SUBJECTS
-------------------
plant
plant



TECHNIQUES
----------
bodycolour on paper
watercolour

CATEGORIES
------
category: drawing

DATING
------
culture:	19th Century

CREATORS
--------
maker: Canton workshop

DIMENSIONS
----------
dimension: Height
units: mm
value: 428

dimension: Width
units: mm
value: 340