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Birds and Flowers
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The image depicted on this folding screen is not executed in ink, but rather a method called “pyrography" or "nakhwa,” a technique of burning the surface of materials ranging from wood to paper with the delicately controlled application of a heated metal tool. This technique became widely popular in the 19th century. Scorched marks here replace brush strokes. Nakhwa method is now designated as a Korean Intangible Cultural Asset by the Korean government.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineBirds and Flowers (화조도 [花鳥圖]), late 1800s. Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910). Ten-panel folding screen with designs and inscriptions burnt into paper (pyrography); overall: 153.5 x 443 cm (60 7/16 x 174 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Alan Carter Covell and Kyu J. Pak-Covell, 1991.80
