Mandarin ducks under smartweed

A pair of mandarin ducks huddle together on the bank under the tall smartweed. Mandarin ducks, among the most beautiful of all ducks, are always found in pairs. Therefore, they are the most favorable and frequent symbol of conjugal felicity in China. In the upper portion of the composition there is another pair of song birds; one in the air flying toward the other one, which is perched on the smartweed. This is an excellent Ming painting based on a Sung composition, with an interpolated signature of the tenth-century master Hsu Hsi.