The Five-Colored Parakeet

This painting is based on a similar one by Song Dynasty Emperor Huizong (1082–1135). Huizong paid the greatest attention to art creation and collection, which made him an exemplar imitated by later emperors such as Emperor Qianlong (1711–1799). This painting may have once been in Qianlong’s collection, as it bears his and other court officials’ stamps, which suggests that it might be a copy made in the eighteenth century. The inscription, which seems to have been added when the painting circulated on the art market, gives a false title and artist’s name to the painting. Both this painting and the aforementioned one by Emperor Huizong came into the hands of the well-known Japanese collector Yamamoto Teijiro in the early twentieth century. At the time, Japanese collectors largely acquired Chinese artworks, especially those paintings bearing famous artists’ names. Emperor Huizong was undoubtedly a big attraction to Japanese audiences. - Chi-Lynn Lin, "Echoing Overseas" label text, Fall 2022