Within the overall structure of this painting, the foreground is dominated by jutting rocks, and beyond the rocks is a smooth upwardly sloping hill; the edge of the horizon is marked with brambles and reeds, behind which lies the open sky. The tripartite spatial into depth is executed very clearly. This reminds the viewer of Fan Kuan’s 范寬 (active ca. 990–1030) spatial arrangement in his Travelers amid Mountains and Streams (Xi shan xing lü 谿山行旅); this painting also clearly preserves the spatial structures common since the 11th century in the Northern Song period.

Li Anzhong condenses the setting, fitting it into the smallest possible painted surface, yet giving a powerful sense of vast open space in which the hawk pursues the pheasant.The painting has been trimmed slightly when remounted at some point in the past. He sets the scene in which a hawk has spread its wings taking flight, while the pheasant is so startled that it screeches, its beak gaping. In the compositional structure, the movement is in a an upward sloping diagonal, with the hawk towards the bottom and the pheasant flying upwards, which distinguishes this work from most prey-predator paintings, where the predator is swooping down from above in pursuit of the prey.

In his painting of a hawk and pheasant, with the exception of light outlines used to depict the pheasant's beak and the talons, beak, breast and wings of the hawk—as well as the distinctive tail feathers—the artist executes the remainder of the work in colored washes produced in a similar fashion to the dian duo fa 點垛法 (daubing method).Trans. note: this method uses layers of ink wash to compose body structures. The brambles are ink and the reeds, done in an ochre pigment, appear dried out and drooping, producing a scene that is heavy with the feel of autumn. Through the movements of the artist’s brush, the viewer can sense the rhythm produced by gusts of wind striking from the left, putting into motion the brambles and reeds. The rocks are also painted with swift brushwork, which echoes the dynamic composition. The painting evokes the somber mood of an autumn day.

In Wang Wei’s 王維 (701–761)Trans. note: the dates given for Wang are generally accepted but there are a number of arguable alternative dates: 699-761, 699-759. poem Observing the Hunt (Guan lie) 觀獵 there are these lines:

The wind blows hard, the hornbow sings,
The general hunts by Wei’s old walls.
The plants stripped bare, the hawk’s eye keen,
Where the snow is gone, horse hooves become lighter….Zhao Diancheng趙殿成 ed., Wang Youcheng ji jianzhu王右丞集箋注, in SKQS 8.22. Trans. note: translation from Stephen Owen, An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996), 386. Wang Wei, Wang Wei ji jiao zhu王維集校注 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1997), 609.
風勁角弓鳴，
將軍獵渭城。
草枯鷹眼疾，
雪盡馬蹄輕。

The line “The plants stripped bare, the hawk’s eye keen” resonates with the Seattle Li Anzhong painting.

Du Fu’s杜甫 (712–770) Painted hawk (Hua ying) 畫鷹 has the line:

Wind-blown frost rises from plain white silk;
a blue-gray hawk—paintwork’s wonder. Guo Zhida郭知逹 ed., Jiu jia jizhu Du shi九家集注杜詩, in SKQS 18.5. Trans. note: translation based on Owen, An Anthology of Chinese Literature, 428.
素練風霜起，
蒼鷹畫作殊。

Bo Juyi白居易 (772–846) Releasing the hawks (Fang ying) 放鷹 has the line:

In the tenth month the hawks are released from their cages,
the reeds are withered and the pheasants and rabbits are plump. Bo Juyi白居易, Bo shi Changing ji白氏長慶集, in SKQS, 1.19. Trans. note: trans. based on Bo Juyi ji 白居易集 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1999), 1.18.
十月鷹出籠，
草枯雉兔肥。

All of these poems resonate with this work and demonstrate the fact that themes such as the hawk were common subjects of poetry and painting. Regarding Song period painting styles, there is the often-cited poem by Chao Yidao晁以道 (1059–1129):Trans. note: Chao’s zi was Yidao以道, but his given name was Shuozhi 說之.

Painting depicts the shapes outside of things;
It is essential that these shapes be not altered.
Poetry conveys the meaning beyond painted forms;
It is imperative that it contain a picture’s air.Chao Buzhi晁補之, Jilei ji 雞肋集, in SKQS, 8.2. Trans. note: This line is often associated with Chao Shuozhi but it is often attributed to his near contemporary and relative Chao Buzhi (1053-1110). Translation cited from Susan Bush and Hsio-yen Shih, Early Chinese Texts on Painting (Cambridge, Mass: Published for the Harvard-Yenching Institute by Harvard University Press, 1985), 204.
畫寫物外形，
要物形不改；
詩傳畫外意，
貴有畫中態。

We can take this as indicative of the Song understanding of painting.

In the Seattle work, the hawk pursues and the pheasant evades. The bird of prey is ferocious while the fearful pheasant flees, the wind blows and the reeds dance, creating an atmosphere that gives a sense of the speed of the flight. As such, “meaning beyond the painting” and “attitude in the painting” can be seen. This is due to the fact that the Song artist most often paints what is before his eyes, i.e. naturalistically, and the painting is based on keen observation.

Northern Song Mei Yaochen 梅堯臣’s (1002–1060) colophon to the Huang Quan 黃筌 (ca. 903–965) painting White Falcon (Bai hu tu 白鶻圖) states:

It is known that the master painter Huang Quan is from western Shu (in modern Sichuan),
Even Mr. Fan of Chengdu is familiar with his work.
Fan said that Quan’s brushstrokes were not crude,
For he raised hawks and falcons and observed their behaviors…Xuan he hua pu宣和畫譜, in SKQS, 16.4.
畫師黃筌出西蜀，
成都范君能具知。
范云筌筆不取次，
自養鷹鶻觀所宜。

In order to produce paintings of nature, Huang Quan raised hawks so he would have an opportunity to observe them. The extremes to which Song painters went to paint nature were not limited to this type of activity. Both the early sixth-century Liang dynasty painter Zhang Sengyou 張僧繇, and the mid-sixth-century Northern Qi painter Gao Xiaoheng 高孝珩 (?-577), are known for having painted hawk murals, depicting the story of the dove and sparrow that did not dare to fly too close.Fan Chengda 范成大, Wu jun zhi吳郡志, SKQS, 43.4; Wu jun zhi (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chuban she, 1999), 43.582.

Dating to 706, the second year of the Shenlong 神龍 reign-period (of the Tang emperor Zhongzong 中宗), are two tomb murals—one from the tomb of Li Xian 李賢 and the other from the tomb of Li Chongrun 李重潤—depicting human figures with raptors perched on their arms. Five Dynasties painter, Guo Qianhui 郭乾暉 (ca. early 10th c.), Northern Song painters, Tang Xiya 唐希雅 (ca. 10th c.), and Cui Bo 崔白 (ca. 1044–1088), were all well-known painters of similar subjects.

In the Yuan, Xia Wenyan’s 夏文彥 Tu hui bao jian 圖繪寶鑑 (written in the 25th year [1365] of the Zhizheng至正 reign period [of emperor Shundi 順帝, (1333–1367), according to the author’s preface) records:

“Li Anzhong resided at the Xuanhe huayuan (Xuanhe painting academy). He had served as Chengzhonglang (Gentleman of Complete Loyalty). During the Shaoxing reign-period (1131–1162) [of the Southern Song Emperor Gaozong] he returned to serve at the Xuanhe painting academy, being bestowed the rank of gold sash. He was skilled at painting flowers, birds and beasts. He was superior to [Li] Di, and was especially skilled in depicting the pouncing [of the hunt animals]. His landscapes were average.”Xia Wenyan, Tu hui bao jian, in SKQS, 4.14.
李安忠，居宣和畫院。歴官成忠郎。紹興間復職畫院，賜金帶。工畫花鳥走獸，差高於迪，尤工捉勒，山水平平。

This is a rather high appraisal of his work, and the use of the term zhuole 捉勒 is a specialized term used to describe the theme of the hunt between predator and prey within flower and bird painting. The phrase “he was especially skilled in depicting the pouncing [of the hunt]” is in close accord with the Seattle painting.

The number of Song paintings that have both a signature of the painter and the date of execution is extremely small. This work contains the inscription “Painted by Li Anzhong in the jiyou year (1129).” Jiyou refers to the third year of the Jianyan 建炎reign-period of the Southern Song Emperor Gaozong 高宗 (reigned 1127–1162) and agrees with the time period that Li Anzhong was active. A notable characteristic in the signature is the spacing of the characters: the given name Anzhong 安忠, which is relatively small in size, is separated from the surname Li 李 above them. A similar signature can be seen on the painting signed by Li Anzhong, titled Bamboo and Dove (Zhu jiu 竹鳩), in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. The space between the family name and the given name is also seen on a work by the Southern Song painter Jia Shigu 賈師古, titled A Temple on a Mountain Pass (Yan guan xiao si 巖關蕭寺) (fig. 1), and a painting by Yan Ciping 閻次平 titled Cottages amidst Pines (Song deng jing lu 松磴精廬) (fig. 2), both in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Fig. 1: Jia Shigu, A Temple on a Mountain Pass, Southern Song (1127-1279). Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Fig. 2: Yan Ciping, Cottages amidst Pines, Southern Song (1127-1279). Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

More important, the signature on the Seattle painting is written in standard script but mixes in elements of clerical script as well. The combined script type is telling, given that signed works by earlier painters, such as Guo Xi’s 郭熙 (active ca. 1001-1090) Early Spring (Zao chun tu 早春圖) (fig. 3), Cui Bo’s Two Jays and a Hare (Shuang xi tu 雙喜圖) (fig. 4), and Li Tang’s Wind in Pines Among a Myriad Valleys (Wan he song feng tu 萬壑松風圖) (fig. 5), all have signatures in clerical script, and that the signatures in later works, such as those by Jia Shigu and Yan Ciping mentioned earlier, are in standard script. The fact that the Seattle painting has a signature with characteristics of both standard script and clerical script may signify a change at the beginning of the Southern Song when signatures transitioned from clerical script to standard script.The somewhat later Yan Ciyu 閻次于 (active second half 12th century) also has a signature that is in clerical script, as is seen in the painting Riding Home (Shan cun gui ji) 山村歸騎, that is in the Freer Gallery of Art collection (fig. 4).

Fig. 3: Guo Xi, Early Spring , 1072. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Fig. 4: Cui Bo, Two Jays and a Hare, 1061. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Fig. 5: Li Tang, Wind in Pines Among a Myriad Valleys, 1124. Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

The inscription on the work titled Bamboo and Dove (Zhu jiu 竹鳩), reads “Painted by Wujinglang Li Anzhong” 武經郎李安忠畫. Wujinglang is a title that is higher than Chengzhonglang (discussed previously). According to the Northern Song dynasty text (Yuanfeng zhi hang 元豐制行), the salary for the title Wujinglang was 20,000 while the salary of the Chengzhonglang was 5,000.Song shi宋史, in SKQS, 171.12. What this reveals is that the highest rank Li obtained after the transition from Northern to Southern Song was Wujinglang.

Li had a son named Gongmao 公茂 who carried on his artistic tradition into the next generation.Zhu Mouyin朱謀垔, Hua shi huiyao畵史㑹要, in SKQS, 3.11. Li Anzhong also had a disciple named Wang Dingguo 王定國, who was from Bian汴 (capital of the Northern Song). Following Wujun, Wang crossed the Yangzie River and resided in Lin’an 臨安 (modern Zhejiang). He specialized in flower and bird paintings.Xia Wenyan, Tu hui bao jian, SKQS, 4.18; Hua shi cong shu 畫史叢書 (Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chuban she, 1962), 4.105.

In the lower right-hand corner of the Seattle painting there is a vermillion colored gourd-shaped seal with the graphs shan ah善阿. This seal matches a seal in the lower right-hand corner of the painting Budai heshang 布袋和尚 attributed to the Southern Song artist Mu Xi 牧溪, in the Kyoto National Museum collection (fig. 6).For a published image see Nezu Bijutsukan, Nansō kaiga: saijō gachi no sekai南宋絵画 : 才情雅致の世界(Tokyo: Nezu Bijutsukan, 2004), 171. The predecessor to the famous Ginkakuji 銀閣寺was known as the Higashi dono東山殿, which was established in 1482 by the eighth Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa 足利義政 (1436–1490) and constructed under the guidance of the master garden architect Sanami 善阿弥 (ca. 1386–ca.1482) —the first two graphs of his name matching the seal on Seattle’s painting. The Ashikaga Yoshimasa shogunate continuously focused on seeking skilled personnel to appraise, prepare, and repair imported works of art, among whom Sanami should be counted. Regarding the Song and Yuan dynasty works that were imported into Japan, Nōami 能阿弥(1397–1471) composed his Inventory of items and paintings (Gyomotsu on'e mokuroku ) 御物御絵目録, that very explicitly records the paintings from the Song and Yuan that had been brought to Japan. Among those under the heading of “Hawks” is a work by Li Anzhong.Gyomotsu on'e mokuroku 《御物御畫目錄》(see the edition kept in the Kyoto National Museum collection). For a published image see Mu Xi牧溪 (Tokyo: Gotoh Museum, 1996), 83. Then in the early sixteenth century during the Muromachi 室町 shogunate, Nōami and Sōami 相阿弥 (?–1525) composed the work Kundaikan sauchōki 君台観左右帳記, which in the section “On Chinese Painters,” there is an entry for Li Anzhong that reads: “Bird, flowers and beasts” (花鳥走獸).Kundaikan sauchōki 《君臺觀左右帳記》(see the edition in the Otani University collection). For a published image see Mu Xi牧溪 (Tokyo: Gotoh Museum, 1996), 84. Hence, we know this painting was likely to have been in Japan by late fifteenth century.

Fig. 6: Attributed to Mu Xi, Budai heshang. © Kyoto National Museum.

© 2013 by the Seattle Art Museum