IDENTIFIERS ----------- id: 32423 accession number: PD.133-1973.14 DATE AUDIT ---------- created: Saturday 6 August 2011 updated: Thursday 28 August 2025 DESCRIPTIVE DATA ---------------- object type: This is a Chinese export watercolour depicting a ginger lily (Hedychium species), commonly known as butterfly ginger or garland flower. The illustration features a flowering stem displaying the species' characteristic white blooms arranged in a terminal spike. Prominent orange-yellow stamens extend out from the centre, creating the butterfly-like appearance that gives the plant one of its common names. A Chinese inscription at the lower right corner reads “yejianghua 薑花”, ginger lily. 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. 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/32423 SUBJECTS ------------------- plant plant TECHNIQUES ---------- watercolour and bodycolour over graphite outline heightened with white on thin paper, backed with second sheet, and both tipped in on the album sheet watercolour CATEGORIES ------ category: drawing DATING ------ culture: 19th Century CREATORS -------- maker: Canton workshop