signed FEI'AN, dated 1948, inscribed, and with two seals of the artistINSCRIPTION:I have kept several leghorn chickens in front of my home and they are quite a suitable subject to draw. Painted when the city was besieged.The twelfth lunar month of wuzi year, 1948. Fei’an.

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, Fine Chinese Paintings, April 2007, Lot 1120

EXHIBITED & ILLUSTRATED
Modern Chinese Artists – Yu Fei'an, volume II, Tianjin People's Fine Arts Publishing House, March 2005, p.4
Hong Kong, Sotheby's, Chinese Paintings & Calligraphy from 20^th Century Masters: The Goldbell Collection, October 2-6, 2015, and illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, pl.4

Yu Fei’an was fond of raising birds and cultivating flowers, and often incorporated his real-life observations of them into his art. The Leghorn chicken depicted here originated from Tuscany, Italy, and has distinctive features such as a bright-red comb and a robust snow-white body. It is most likely Yu raised it because its striking appearance lent itself so well to being painted. Here, he used light colour washes throughout the composition to emphasise the chicken’s unique appearance.