Irises and Wild Roses with Butterfly — Wen Ying

An album leaf depicting irises and wild roses with butterfly, painted in ink and colour on silk in the mogu (boneless) technique.

Wen Ying (文瑩). c. 1920.

Wen Ying was a late Qing and early Republic period artist working in the huaniaohua (flower-and-bird painting) tradition. The mogu technique — building forms through layered colour washes without ink outlines — gives these paintings their characteristic softness and luminosity. This leaf comes from an album of flower-and-butterfly studies that demonstrates refined brushwork and a delicate sense of colour.

Ink and colour on silk. Sheet size approximately 27.8 × 33.8 cm. Good.