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Hi, I stumbled across this artwork today in a Habitat for Humanity Restore. It was simply tagged "Chinese Scroll Painting" and had a low price, even by Restore standards. The size and colors worked well for me, and I find it a cheerful scene, so I decided to buy it.

My working assumption is that it is some kind of recent reproduction and/or a tourist souvenir. But I was surprised there were no seals on it - genuine, fake or otherwise. And whoever owned it before me spent some money or nice framing and conservation glass. So I decided to post a photo of it here in the hopes that someone might be able to help educate me about what it is.

I appreciate any insights you might have and am grateful for your time!

Your first guess is right, this is a recent decorative picture in a 20th century style. a reverse image search will generate lots of similar pictures. "Bird and flower" paintings have been around a long while in general though. Song pictures are particularly naturalistic, and there was a revival of them during Ming times. Qing and more recent pictures have tended to be more expressive and largely dispense with the fastidious techniques of earlier times. The usual distinction these days is between "gongbi" (refined, associated with court artists) and "xieyi" (expressive (not "expressionist"!) paintings. A range of examples here http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/painting-birds.php For a 20th century painter in Song style (who even copied the Huizong emperor's calligraphy--he's the guy listed as Zhao Ji in the link above), see Yu Fei'an's pictures

Thanks so much for this response. I guess what I am trying to figure out is why there are no calligraphy symbols or seals depicted anywhere - even when I look at images of very cheap reprints, they seem to include these things. I guess it's possible that they are under the matting? Are such elements less common or unnecessary in contemporary scroll paintings?

Last question - the canvas seems to have some seams on it, as if it was stitched or adhered together somehow. Is this indicative or whatever material it was painted on?

Thanks in advance for any further info!

I don't see the sewing you mention, just what looks like folds of a piece of silk that hasn't been properly backed/mounted, indicating (along with the lack of inscription/seals) that this is a very basic production that a tourist bought from someone on the street, brought home, and had it matted and framed.

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