IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 317337 accession number: 4205.2 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Friday 3 May 2024 updated: Thursday 28 August 2025 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: A watercolour drawing from the album 4205. The image features a vermilion Chinese hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) that is commonly grown in Southern China. On the tip of the petal is a black and white butterfly. On the right, the blue and orange butterfly could be Junonia orithya, which is a nymphalid butterfly with many subspecies occurring from Africa, through southern and south-eastern Asia, and in Australia. The artwork shows meticulous attention to botanical and entomological details, particularly in the rendering of leaf structures, the delicate flower petals, and the intricate patterns on the butterflies' wings. Some leaves show signs of natural damage or spots, adding to the scientific authenticity of the illustration. The illustration combines scientific accuracy with artistic composition, characteristic of Chinese natural history paintings of this period. This piece exemplifies the careful observation and technical precision typical of Chinese export watercolours, with particular attention paid to the accurate depiction of both the plants and insects in their natural state title: drawing LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints creditline: Given by Rev. John Durham Denis de Vitré, 1942 STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/317337 TECHNIQUES ---------- watercolour and bodycolour on pith paper watercolour CATEGORIES ------ category: album DATING ------ creation date: 1800 - 1870 creation date earliest: 1800 creation date latest: 1870 culture: 19th Century CREATORS -------- maker: Canton workshop DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Height units: mm value: 188 dimension: Width units: mm value: 293