Lychee Botanical Art

Lychee
Lichi chinensis

Lychee Botanical Art

Tea Caddy with Chinoiserie Couple....decorated in translucent champlevé enamel with motifs composed of a couple of lychee fruit..

Tea Caddy with Chinoiserie Couple....decorated in translucent champlevé enamel with motifs composed of a couple of lychee fruit..

Fig. 1

Tea Caddy with Chinoiserie Couple....decorated in translucent champlevé enamel with motifs composed of a couple of lychee fruit.. Ivan Khlebnikov, 1871

Fig. 2

Box with lychees
The English name for this sweet summer fruit found only in Asia is derived from the Chinese lizhi. Lychees are understood to represent fertility and are also symbolic of love, romance, and virtues such as strength. Small boxes of this type, used to hold incense, were also produced in metal and porcelain.

Lychees

Fig. 3

Lychees
The cool graphic beauty of Ding's image and of his Shang oracle-bone script express the pleasure he felt upon receiving lychees from a friend traveling in the south, where the fruit grows.
Shou Xi's poem (on the left) describes how the Tang emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-56) employed the imperial messenger service to bring ripe lychees from Canton to his favorite concubine, Yang Guifei, at the capital, Chang'an (modern Xi'an).

Lychee from one of the earliest natural history books about China. Jesuit Missionary author.

Fig. 4

Lychee from one of the earliest natural history books about China. Jesuit Missionary author.
Bibliothèque Universtaire Moretus Plantin, 1656

Fig. 5
Lychee branches and Narcissus
Ink and color on paper by Wu Changshuo, 1907

Fig. 6

Goryeo dynasty bowl with lychee design
late 12th-early 13th century

Still Life with Lychees, by Fujishima Takeji, Uehara Museum of Modern Art, Shimoda, Shizuoka, Japan

Fig. 7

Still Life with Lychees, by Fujishima Takeji, Uehara Museum of Modern Art, Shimoda, Shizuoka, Japan

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Lychee Page

Botanical Art

Fig. ¹ Khlebnikov, Ivan. "Tea Caddy with Chinoiserie Couple....decorated in translucent champlevé enamel with motifs composed of a couple of lychee fruit..." The Walters Art Museum, 1871, art.thewalters.org/detail/82471/tea-caddy-with-chinoiserie-couple/. Accessed 8 May 2020.
Fig. ²"Box with lychees." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carved red and black lacquer, 16th century, The Met, Public Domain, www.metmuseum.org/search-results#!/search?q=lychee. Accessed 8 May 2020.
Fig. ³Ding Fuzhi. "Lychees." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Folding fan mounted as an album leaf, 1941, The Met, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/49665. Accessed 8 May 2020.
Fig. ⁴Boym, Michał Piotr. "Lychee from one of the earliest natural history books about China. Jesuit Missionary author." Bibliothèque Universtaire Moretus Plantin, cleaned by B.navez, 1656, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain, (PD-US), commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flora_Sinensis_Boym_Lychee.JPG. Accessed 8 May 2020.
Fig. ⁵Hiart. "Lychee Branches and Narcissus." Honolulu Museum of Art, accession 6605.1, Ink and color on paper by Wu Changshuo, 1907, Wikimedia Commons, (CC 0 1.0), commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27Lychee_Branches_and_Narcissus%27,_by_Wu_Changshi,_Honolulu_Museum_of_Art.JPG. Accessed 8 May 2020.
Fig. ⁶Hiart. "Goryeo dynasty bowl with lychee design." Honolulu Museum of Art, Stoneware with celadon glaze and black and white slip inlay, accession 4146.1, late 12th-early 13th century, 2015, Wikimedia Commons, (CC 0 1.0), commons.wikimedia.org/File:Goryeo_dynasty_bowl_with_lychee_design,_Honolulu_Museum_of_Art. Accessed 8 May 2020.
Fig.7Takeji, Fujishima. "Still Life with Lychees, by Fujishima Takeji, Uehara Museum of Modern Art, Shimoda, Shizuoka, Japan." Wikimedia Commons, 1 Jan. 1931, Public Domain, PD US, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Lychees#/media/File:Still_Life_with_Lychees_by_Fujishima_Takeji_(Uehara_Museum_of_Modern_Art).jpg. Accessed 8 May 2020.

Published 28 May 2020 LR