The bird-and-flower paintings of ancient China shine a light on the breadth of traditional Chinese culture and philosophy. From the Song to the Qing dynasties, this genre of painting was a favorite subject of classical Chinese artists and shows the value of appreciating and being in harmony with nature.
Bird painting can be traced back to the Shang (1600–1046 B.C.) and Zhou (1046–256 B.C.) dynasties, when abstract images of birds were engraved on bronze pottery. It was during the Wei Kingdom (A.D. 220–265), though, that artists began to specialize in bird-and-flower painting to form a new genre.
