Dish with Bird on Fruit Tree Branch (1662–1722): Art, History and Details

Dish with Bird on Fruit Tree Branch (1662–1722) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

A green-winged, red-billed bird perches on a fruit tree branch. The dish is painted in bright enamels and fine outlines to create vibrant tones and delicate textures, especially visible in the bird’s feathers. The plant motif extends beyond the rim in what is known as an “over-the-wall” composition. While decorative, the composition and color scheme remain stylized rather than naturalistic. The existence of several Kangxi period dishes with an almost identical design suggests that the composition followed standardized templates, likely intended for festive occasions or as a gift.

Object facts

• Title: Dish with Bird on Fruit Tree Branch
• Date: 1662–1722
• Culture: China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen kilns, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Kangxi mark and reign (1662–1722)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Porcelain with famille-verte overglaze enamel decoration
• Dimensions: Diameter: 20.7 cm (8 1/8 in.); Vessel: 2.5 cm (1 in.)
• Collection: China - Qing Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1964.213

A detail from the museum

This dish is related to the set created for the Kangxi emperor's 60th birthday.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Catalogue of the Severance and Greta Millikin Collection. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1990.
• Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.
• Lin, Yi-Hsin 林逸欣. "Cleveland Museum of Art Presents 'A Myriad of Flowers and Bird in Chinese Art'" 克里夫蘭藝術博物館「中國藝術中的花鳥集錦」展覽. Art & Collection 典藏．古美術 402 (March 2026).

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.