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In French art, a seabird from Asia, perhaps (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

eastern

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'asia perhaps' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.

'in french art a seabird' is the wordplay.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'french art' becomes 'es' ('is' in French - 'art' can mean 'is' eg 'thou art').
'seabird' becomes 'tern' (tern is a kind of seabird).
'es' going around 'a' is 'eas'.
'eas'+'tern'='EASTERN'

'from' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for eastern that I've seen before include "in Beijing, possibly" , "towards the sun" , "from afar" , "Indian perhaps" , "Chinese', for example" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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