Over the Cool Autumn Water

Over the Cool Autumn Water is a flower-and-bird painting featuring an arched willow trunk stretching across the four sections of the picture. “Salix warburgii,” a species of willow, is a deciduous arbor native to Taiwan. In the painting, the leaves flutter in the winds, intermingling with the epiphytic skunkvine flowers. The blooming peony in the lower right creates a diagonal line with the silver pheasant. The artist took a realistic approach not for presenting nature’s growths, but to express creative ideas and make pictorial arrangements. This purposefully created combination adds a sense of wealth and auspiciousness to the picture.