IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 23125 accession number: PD.282-1973 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Thursday 28 August 2025 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: This is a Chinese export watercolour depicting pink chrysanthemums with butterflies and insects. The illustration features three spider-type chrysanthemum blooms with thin, radiating petals in varying shades of pink. The flowers display the characteristic form of this cultivar group, with narrow, spidery petals extending from yellow-green centers. Several stems support the blooms, each with deeply lobed green leaves typical of chrysanthemums arranged along the branches. A Chinese inscription at the lower left corner reads “fenhong ju 粉紅菊”, pink chrysanthemums. Four insects are depicted around the flowers: a large black swallowtail butterfly (Papilio hippono) with orange and white markings on the left; a peacock butterfly (Junonia almana) with orange wings and blue eyespots in the upper right; a small wasp in the center; and a small ladybug at the bottom.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 “stem with flowers in bud and bloom, surrounded by butterflies and insects”. title: drawing LICENSING --------- text license status: CC0 image license status: CC-BY-NC-SA OWNERSHIP --------- instutition: The Fitzwilliam Museum department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints collection: Broughton Collection STABLE URL ---------- url: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/23125 SUBJECTS ------------------- plant plant TECHNIQUES ---------- bodycolour on paper watercolour CATEGORIES ------ category: drawing DATING ------ culture: 19th Century CREATORS -------- maker: Canton workshop DIMENSIONS ---------- dimension: Height units: mm value: 300 dimension: Width units: mm value: 448 IMAGES surrogate: large format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp13/PD_282_1973.jpg height: 519 pixels width: 760 pixels surrogate: mid format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp13/mid_PD_282_1973.jpg height: 341 pixels width: 499 pixels surrogate: original format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp13/PD_282_1973.jpg height: 519 pixels width: 760 pixels surrogate: preview format: jpeg location: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp13/preview_PD_282_1973.jpg height: 171 pixels width: 250 pixels