Monkey and Cats, Yüan-chi, Sung dynasty, Handscroll
Monkey and Cats, Yüan-chi, Sung dynasty, Handscroll. The National Palace Museum, Taiwan.
This work was done by the Northern Sung artist specializing in painting monkeys, I Yüan-chi, who has fully expressed the interactive spirit between the animals portrayed here. A mischievous macaque has suddenly grabbed a kitten passing by. The other kitten escaped its clutches and is frightened, looking back in anger at the macaque as if to think of some way to rescue its playmate. The macaque, however, appears to take no heed of the kitten in its clutches or the response of the kitten by its side, having a devil-may-care and nonchalant attitude towards all the fuss, as if secretly enjoying all the commotion created by its prank on the kittens. After the hairs of the animals' fur were painted in one by one, washes of color were added to create a layered and fluffy appearance. The red ribbons worn by these two kittens are similar to those in “Calico Cat and Noble Peonies” and “Children Playing on a Winter Day”, indicating that this was perhaps a custom among the wealthy in the Sung dynasty when raising pets.