Flowers of the Four Seasons 四季花卉圖
Chen Jiayan
Ming dynasty (1368–1644), dated 1599
Medium
Handscroll; ink on paper
Dimensions
28.5 × 398 cm (10 7/8 × 152 1/2 in.)
Classification
handscroll
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
75317
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The artist of this softly monochromatic handscroll evokes the passage of time with plants that bloom in sequence throughout the four seasons. The flowers of spring—tree peony, spring cymbidium, astor, peach, iris, and rose—flow into summer, beginning with the white magnolia (yulan) and crab apple (haitang). Together, these last two flowers comprise a rebus or visual pun for the auspicious phrase “yutang fugui:” “wealth and rank in the Jade Hall.” The Jade Hall alludes to the Hanlin Academy, a go...