Instructions & Additional Information

Touch the screen to explore a Chinese handscroll of the “one hundred flowers” motif from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Meant to be viewed from right to left, the painting begins with spring flowers and ends with winter blossoms. You will be able to locate all identifiable flowers (more than a hundred) and learn more about five blossoms that are important in China: cymbidium, peach blossom, osmanthus, narcissus, and peony. To have one hundred flowers bloom at once is especially auspicious and expresses the sentiment, “May blossoming flowers bring prosperity” (huakai fugui).

This digital interactive was created for the exhibition, Flower Power, on view at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco from June 23 to Oct. 1, 2017. Flower Power is organized by the Asian Art Museum. Presentation is made possible with the generous support of Doris Shoong Lee and Theodore Bo Lee, The Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Fund for Excellence in Exhibitions and Presentations, Phoebe Cowles, Warren Felson and Lucy Sun, and Cathy and Howard Moreland.

 

 

Image credit: Painting with “one hundred flowers” motif. China. Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Handscroll; colors on silk. Asian Art Museum, Gift of Nell Schneider, 2005.1. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

Featured Flowers

You are currently in free explore mode. Select "Show Hotspots" from the menu to return to standard mode.
Painting with “one hundred flowers” motif
+
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-36218640-20', 'auto'); ga('send', 'pageview');