Messages Encoded in Bird-and-Flower Paintings (Part I).docVIP

Messages Encoded in Bird-and-Flower Paintings (Part I) 　　THE free-hand painting Liu Zhongxin (1948-) did to celebrate the beginning of a new business has encoded in it best wishes for the proprietor’s success in the years to come. A litchi branch loaded with crimson red fruit signifies a prosperous business, for the branch conveys an image that stands for a “line” of business, while the fruit is a play on the word “profit,” which in Chinese is a homonym for “litchi.” If a rooster is added under the tree, the artist said, the meaning expands to “many blessings and much prosperity.” 　　Chinese painting boasts of many genres, of which the bird-and-flower ?C either rendered in subtle and meticulous gongbi brushworks or in saturated and splashy expressionistic ink ?C is just one; but it has a long history that can be traced back to the Song and Yuan dynasties. During that time paintings of birds and flowers were often seen as décor in the homes of the wealthy, or embellishments for folding fan-faces carried by scholars. Still, they appeared almost everywhere in contemporary life, in a residence, restaurant or teahouse, even on cups and plates in daily use. A bird-and-flower composition serves as a vehicle for auspicious messages, which is often reinforced by a homonymic object’s name. Almost every kind of bird and flower can serve this purpose. 　　 　　The Five Virtues of the Rooster 　　 　　Liu Zhongxin, a contemporary artist of the genre has a special interest in painting roosters and these works of his are vigorously sought after on the market. “The rooster is much loved among Chinese people,” Liu says, “and many famous artists, like Ren Bonian (1840-1896) of the Qing Dynasty, Qi Baishi (1864-1957) and Wang Xuetao (1903-1982), took it as their favorite subject.” 　　Roosters were a part of all home life at the time and remain closely related to many people’s lives in China today. To artists, they are a perennially absorbing subject, because apart from the bird’s nam