Sightings: Birds in Chinese & Japanese Painting

Zhao Ji [Chao Chi] 伝鷲佶徽宗
(1082-1135)
Reigned as the Huizong emperor
(1100-1125)

“Imperial Eagle” 御鷹圖

Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
120.0 x 53.0 cm. (47 1/4 x 20 3/4 in.)

Inscription by Cai Cao (d. after 1147), son of Prime Minister Cai Jing (1046-1126); poem, much damaged and over-written, signed “Cai Cao, Grand Academician of the Xuanhe Palace.”

Published: Kase Toho: “Dreaming of a White Eagle,” Geijutsu Shincho, no. 292, 1974.

Huichong [Hui-ch’ung] 伝惠崇
(965?-1017) attributed;
Painting early 13th century

“Wild Geese Descending on Sandbar”
平沙落雁圖

Hanging scroll, ink on paper
53.5 x 26.0 cm. (21 1/8 x 10 1/4 in.)

Published: Tokugawa Art Museum: Basara no Jidai—Ocho-jidai no Zansho, Kinsei no Ibuki, Nagoya, 1991, pl. 8, p. 20 (identified as a Southern Song painting of the 13th century).

Anonymous Chinese 無款中國
(13th-14th century)
(old attribution to Li Di 舊傳李廸 )

“Eagle on Winter Branch” 冬鷲圖

Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
153.3 x 82.5 cm. (60 3/8 x 32 1/2 in.)

Inscription: “Li Di painted this in front of the Emperor.”

Anonymous Chinese 無款中國
(13th century)

“Three Sparrows on Blossoming Plum”
梅花三雀圖

Fan painting, ink and color on silk
27.8 x 20.3 cm. (11 x 8 in.)

Collectors seals: Chenpu yin; Zhenzhai

Ding Wenxian [Ting Wen-hsien] 丁文暹
(active mid-15th century)

“Mandarin Ducks & Sparrow Under Willow” 鴛鴦圖

Hanging scroll, ink on silk
152.0 x 62.0 cm. (60 x 24 1/2 in.)

Inscription: “Wenxian painted this for Yidao.”

Artist’s seal: One, illegible

Ding Wenxian [Ting Wen-hsien] 丁文暹
(active mid-15th century)

“Mandarin Ducks & Sparrow Under Willow” 鴛鴦圖

Hanging scroll, ink on silk
152.0 x 62.0 cm. (60 x 24 1/2 in.)

Inscription: “Wenxian painted this for Yidao.”

Artist’s seal: One, illegible

Anonymous Chinese 無款中國
(15th century)

“Ducks in Reeds” 蘆雁圖

Hanging scroll, ink on silk
130.5 x 69.0 (51 3/8 x 27 1/4 in.)

Collectors seals: Two, illegible

Anonymous Chinese 無款中國
(15th-16th century)

“Pheasants on Rock Beneath Bamboo”
岩竹雙雉子圖

Hanging scroll, ink on silk
141.0 x 77.5 cm. (55 1/2 x 30 1/2 in.)