Descriptive catalogue of ancient and genuine Chinese paintings
A Shanghai catalogue of ancient Chinese paintings issued in 1916 by the Laiyuan Company and formerly owned by collector Charles Lang Freer, held by the Smithsonian Libraries. The single plate reproduces a painting of a bird perched on a flowering branch against a pale, empty ground, with a column of inscription characters at the right edge. A designer could draw on its restrained negative space, the delicate ink line of the branch, and the calm asymmetric balance of a single bird set low in an open field.
