Twin Delights

Cui Bai, Song Dynasty
Ink and color on silk
193.7*103.7cm

This is arguably one of the most important flower-and-bird paintings in the history of China's fines arts. In a wilderness in early winter, grasses and trees sway and undulate in the wind blowing down from the North; two magpies perched on a twig are startled into flight by a wild rabbit that happens by; the rabbit pauses and looks up in incomprehension and curiosity at the flustered birds making noises at it. The painting achieves an unprecedented, unparalleled height of perfection in its composition, texture, dynamics, atmosphere and literary content, and epitomizes the artistic accomplishments of flower-and-bird painting in the Song period.