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Begonia grandis and Red Lily: PD.132-1973.8

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Begonia grandis and Red Lily

Maker(s)

Canton workshop

Entities

Categories

Description

A watercolour drawing from the album PD.132-1973. This is a Chinese export watercolour depicting hardy begonia (Begonia grandis) and red lily. The begonia displays clusters of small pink flowers with yellow centers, accompanied by characteristic asymmetrical leaves with reddish undersides and prominent veining. The red lily shows the typical six-petaled form with recurved orange-red petals and prominent stamens extending from the center, supported by narrow lance-shaped leaves. 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.

Measurements and weight

Height: 301 mm
Width: 374 mm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1973) by Fairhaven, Henry Rogers Broughton

School or Style

Chinese
Chinese export art
Chinese export watercolour

Materials used in production

Watercolour
White bodycolour
Graphite

Components of the work

Support composed of paper

Techniques used in production

Watercolour : Watercolour highlighted with white over traces of graphite, on thin paper, tipped in on the cream coloured album sheet

Identification numbers

Accession number: PD.132-1973.8
Primary reference Number: 32392
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Thursday 28 August 2025 Last processed: Thursday 28 August 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Begonia grandis and Red Lily" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/32392 Accessed: 2025-11-16 01:39:05

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/32392 |title=Begonia grandis and Red Lily |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-11-16 01:39:05|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-32392

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