IDENTIFIERS
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id:	23121
accession number:	PD.279-1973

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

DESCRIPTIVE DATA
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object type: This is a Chinese export watercolour depicting Chinese New Year flower (Enkianthus quinqueflora) with insects. The illustration features several branching stems with distinctive drooping, bell-shaped flowers in white with pink stripes. The flowers hang in small clusters from the brown stems. The pink markings radiate from the centre of each bloom, and several brown seed pods are visible at the tips of branches where flowers have finished blooming. The plant displays oval-shaped green leaves arranged along the stems, typical of Enkianthus. The leaves are rendered with careful attention to their natural texture and arrangement. Three insects are depicted around the flowers: a large brown butterfly with striped wing patterns on the left side; a dragonfly with transparent wings and a green-tinted body hovering at the top right; and a bee near the centre. 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 “flower in bud and in bloom on the stem, surrounded by butterflies and insects”.
title:	drawing

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

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

STABLE URL
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url:	https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/23121


SUBJECTS
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plant
plant



TECHNIQUES
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bodycolour on paper
watercolour

CATEGORIES
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category: drawing

DATING
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culture:	19th Century

CREATORS
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maker: Canton workshop

DIMENSIONS
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dimension: Height
units: mm
value: 432

dimension: Width
units: mm
value: 300