Flowers and Sketches from Life: Wasps and Cat, Tiao Kuang-yin, T'ang dynasty, Album.

This is the sixth leaf from Tiao Kuang-yin's “Flowers and Sketches from Life”. Leisurely making its way on a forested slope with a rushing stream, a white cat with scattered black spots crouches with eyes alert as it stares at a bee flying in front. This type of pose should be familiar to most people who have raised cats. Tiao Kuang-yin was a famous bird-and-flower painter of the late T'ang dynasty (10 th c.). This album includes the signature for each painter on the leaves calligraphed in gold ink for a very eye-catching effect. The refined brushwork here, although following in the archaic and steady manner of T'ang style painting, is nonetheless probably an imitation done by a later hand.