Chinese painting "Peaches and Bats", Qing dynasty

Chinese painting "Peaches and Bats", Qing dynasty

Ink and pigments on silk. The delicate composition shows five bats in black and brown, fluttering with their large wings outstretched around a beautiful peach tree full of fruit. The tree emerges from a sloping ground, from which small branches with colourful ruyi, delicate flowers, a slender bamboo and even a rosebush in bloom with thorns grow. In the centre of the work, there is also a group of angular-looking rocks.

In the upper left corner, three characters in black ink allude to the symbolism of the painting, which depicts ten fortunes. The terms "fortune" and "bat" are homophones in Mandarin Chinese, which is why we find a widespread representation of this animal in various works throughout the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912).

Size: 131 X 61 cm; Size with frame: 149 X 81.50 cm