Honeysuckle
Draughtsman: Canton workshop
This is a Chinese export watercolour depicting honeysuckle (Lonicera species). The illustration features a branching woody stem with two distinct flowering clusters - one on the left displaying tubular flowers with prominent orange-yellow stamens extending from white corollas, and another cluster on the right with similar white tubular flowers and long white stamens. The flowers show the characteristic form of honeysuckle with their elongated tubes and protruding stamens. The plant displays opposite leaves arranged along the brown woody stems. The leaves are simple, oval-shaped with pointed tips, each showing prominent venation and rendered in various shades of green. This leaf arrangement and the tubular flowers with extended stamens are characteristic features of the honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae). In the lower left corner is a small detail study of a single flower. A Chinese inscription written in pencil at the lower left corner reads “jinyin hua金銀花”, honeysuckle (Lonicera species). The painting demonstrates the fine brushwork characteristic of Chinese export art from the late 18th or early 19th century, combining traditional Chinese flower-and-bird painting style and Western botanical illustration. Previously described as “study of flowering shrub-Honeysuckle?”.
Height: 419 mm
Width: 518 mm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1973) by Fairhaven, Henry Rogers Broughton
Chinese
Chinese export art
Chinese export watercolour
Support composed of paper
Watercolour : Watercolour and bodycolour on paper
Accession number: PD.285-1973
Primary reference Number: 23128
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) "Honeysuckle" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/23128 Accessed: 2025-12-06 10:48:19
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/23128
|title=Honeysuckle
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-06 10:48:19|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-23128
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