Chinese windmill butterfly (Byasa plutonius), bee, camellia and squash blossom
A watercolour drawing from the album 4205. Assorted flower stems, a butterfly, and a bee. In the centre are pink camellia flowers on stem. Heavy layer of white body colour is applied to the flower for chiaroscuro. The camellia is surrounded by yellow squash blossom. The black and orange butterfly in the upper left corner could be Chinese windmille butterfly (Byasa plutonius). A bee stays in the upper right corner.
Height: 190 mm
Width: 290 mm
Method of acquisition: Given (1942) by De Vitré, John Durham Denis de
19th Century
Circa
1800
-
Circa
1880
Chinese
Chinese export art
Chinese export watercolour
Support composed of pith paper
Watercolour : Watercolour and bodycolour on pith paper
Accession number: 4205.3
Primary reference Number: 317601
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) "Chinese windmill butterfly (Byasa plutonius), bee, camellia and squash blossom" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/317601 Accessed: 2025-04-06 07:53:50
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/317601
|title=Chinese windmill butterfly (Byasa plutonius), bee, camellia and squash blossom
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-04-06 07:53:50|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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