Flower and Bird Chinese Scroll Painting – Silk Wall Art – Moon Plum Blossom

The moon plum blossom theme, long loved by Chinese painters, gets a fine airing in this flower and bird scroll painting. The work reads as a whole from across the room and rewards a closer look too. It belongs with the best of classical chinese brush painting, the sort that settles into a room from day one.

The moon rides high in the composition, a pale disc of quiet light. The coloring is bold without being gaudy, each hue given its proper weight. Against the silk ground, the plum blossom reads clearly at any distance. A quiet picture, but one with real staying power. The overall tone is one of ease, the hardest thing to paint and the easiest to enjoy.

Collectors of ink wash painting will recognize the vocabulary at once: restraint, balance, and a feel for the natural world. It brings the outside world in, in the quietest way possible. Try it where you take your tea; it belongs there.