The Erin Pearson Collection

A private collection · Brisbane

Where Birds Sing and Flowers Bloom
Where Birds Sing and Flowers Bloom
Where Birds Sing and Flowers Bloom
Where Birds Sing and Flowers Bloom

Where Birds Sing and Flowers Bloom

Unknown (Chinese)

The Work

The inscribed title reads 鳥語花香 — Niao Yu Hua Xiang, "where birds sing and flowers bloom".

I was first drawn to the pieces because of their beauty and felt that I could save them from ending up in landfill. I was also excited by the challenge of this. Niao Yu Hua Xiang is a well-known classical idiom evoking an idyllic scene of nature in full harmony — birdsong, blossom, vitality. It's a phrase that carries genuine warmth and optimism, and matched with the depiction of a bird among blossom and bamboo, it's a piece I find quietly joyful.

Year
Unknown — estimated circa 1950s–60s, possibly earlier, based on materials and style
Medium
Ink and colour on silk
Image size
190 mm x 385 mm
Framed size
355 mm x 560 mm
Catalogue
0036

Provenance

This painting was salvaged from Facebook Marketplace as part of a set of three, found together in poor, deteriorating frames. I carefully stabilised and repaired the silk using wheat starch paste — a traditional, reversible conservation method — and had it conservation-framed to protect and present it properly. Its history prior to that point is unknown.

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Condition

Extremely fragile. Visible age-related foxing, staining, and historic separation at the mount joins — preserved rather than concealed, consistent with the piece's age and history.

Framing

Conservation-framed in native Australian silver ash with black bean spline joins and UltraVue glazing, chosen to protect the fragile silk while complementing its warm, aged tones.

About Unknown (Chinese)

The artist is unidentified. No seal or signature is present on the work, only the inscribed title. The painting belongs to the tradition of Chinese bird-and-flower (huaniao) painting, a genre with roots stretching back over a thousand years, historically prized for its combination of naturalistic observation and poetic, symbolic meaning.