Azalea (Rhododendron species)
This is a Chinese export watercolour depicting an azalea (Rhododendron species). The illustration features flowering branches with red blooms. The flowers have the distinctive funnel-shaped form typical of azaleas, with five broad petals that flare outward from a narrow tube, and prominent long stamens extending out. The composition shows flowers in various stages of development, from tight elongated buds to fully opened blossoms. The leaves show the typical clustering around the flower clusters and scattered arrangement along the woody stems. A Chinese inscription at the lower right corner reads “dujuanhua 杜鵑花”, azalea. 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.
Height: 312 mm
Width: 388 mm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1973) by Fairhaven, Henry Rogers Broughton
Chinese
Chinese export art
Chinese export watercolour
Watercolour
Bodycolour
White bodycolour
Support composed of paper
Watercolour : Watercolour and some bodycolour heightened with white on thin paper, backed with second sheet, and both tipped in on the album sheet
Accession number: PD.133-1973.16
Primary reference Number: 32425
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) "Azalea (Rhododendron species)" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/32425 Accessed: 2025-12-21 10:23:04
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/32425
|title=Azalea (Rhododendron species)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-21 10:23:04|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-32425
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