This book is actually a catalog produced for an exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW in 2000. Unfortunately, I missed this exhibition. However, the catalog is probably the next best thing. The photographs are great and the explanations and technical details are fascinating and (apparently) quite detailed historically. I'm surprised that they are generally all so well documented...though it points to an era of genteel courtly charm ....and the pleasures of the rich.....who could afford to gather for parties in the garden to savour the fragrance of a particular flower, to drink wine and to compose or listen to poetry. (I wonder what the peasants were doing?).
It shows an impressive body of work from the Guandong Provincial Museum with a variety of styles and subject matter. It's interesting to note some of the psychology attributed to various artists...such as the artist who was from the Ming Royal family, then deposed who became a monk and painted in a style where birds with disinterested eyes were supposed to symbolise "the life of loyalists cut off from their imperial roots".
There is a nice introduction by Edmund Capon; a slightly repetitious, section about the significance of flower and bird painting...including the word puns , the symbolism etc., associated with the various flowers and birds; and the most significant catalog section. Each painting in the catalog has a full page photo plus a page devoted to metadata....about the painter, the subject , the style, the meaning, etc.
I found the book quite fascinating and some of the art is lovely. I give it 4 stars. ( )