A Myriad of Birds (1700s–1800s): Art, History and Details

A Myriad of Birds (1700s–1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This embroidered panel, made with extremely fine silk threads, presents a lavishly detailed composition filled with fortuitous imagery. Pairs of birds, including mandarin ducks, peacocks, cranes, swallows, and pheasants, move among flowering trees, ornamental rocks, and aquatic plants, symbolizing harmony, prosperity, and longevity. Cranes stand for longevity, while a pair of mandarin ducks convey wishes for a harmonious marriage. Inspired by the decorative bird-and-flower paintings of the artist Lü Ji, the work prioritizes symbolism over spatial logic. With vibrant colors, meticulous stitching, and fortuitous meaning, the embroidery exemplifies the technical brilliance of Qing dynasty textile art, rivaling the quality of imperial production.

Object facts

• Title: A Myriad of Birds
• Date: 1700s–1800s
• Culture: China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
• Type: Embroidery
• Technique: silk: satin weave with polychrome silk embroidery
• Dimensions: Overall: 118.7 x 76.2 cm (46 3/4 x 30 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1960.276

A detail from the museum

This magnificent textile, probably executed by a woman, demonstrates the tradition of making embroidered pictures in imitation of paintings.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Severance A. Millikin

Further reading listed by the museum

• A similar embroidery is in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery.
• Spee, Clarissa von. "From the SIlk Road to the Imperial Court: Chinese Textiles in the Cleveland Museum of Art." Arts of Asia 48, no. 3 (May-June 2018): 50–56.
• Silberstein, Rachel. "“One Hundred Birds” hanging scroll." Smarthistory (August 4, 2022).

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.