Listening to a Zither, anonymous, Yüan dynasty, Hanging scroll. The National Palace Museum, Taiwan.

In ancient times, scholars often raised cats to protect their rare books from being gnawed by mice. This work is done in the “pai-miao” manner of ink outlines and shows tall pawlonia and shady bamboo. In the garden is a curving rail by a pond as a scholar sits on a daybed plucking a zither. Three other scholars sit around him and listen intently as four attendants are busy in waiting, adding incense, grinding tea, and heating wine. In a corner of the painting, two cats cannot control their nature as they break out in play around a basket, adding a lively and endearing touch to the otherwise staid and refined atmosphere of scholars. In the Ming and Ch'ing dynasties was a popular trend towards using display items and furniture, and this painting reflects the residential garden of an upper-class family, in which everything is very fastidiously arranged. Judging from the furniture here, this work attributed to the Yüan dynasty was probably actually done in the late Ming dynasty.