National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

Perfectly capturing a moment of lovable young sparrows flapping their wings vigorously inside and outside a nest basket, this is a masterpiece of Southern-Song painting. The nest-basket and the sparrows are painted with care and precision in ink and light colors against the plain background. The detailed and careful expression of the feathers – and in contrast the simple and strong presentation of the basket – clearly show the creator's exceptional competence. This painting makes the viewer feel as if he or she can hear the chirp and buzz of the young sparrows. It has not been confirmed who the creator of this painting is, although the note of authentication by Kanō Korenobu (Yōsennin) on the box containing this work claims that it was painted by Song Rozhi, who was employed by the Imperial Painting Academy of the Southern Song dynasty. Song Rozhi was a painter from Qiantang (in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province), who worked for the imperial court of Emperor Lizong around the Jingding era (1260-64) in the late Southern Song period. He was taught by Roukan, who also worked for the Imperial Painting Academy. Song Rozhi's favorite motifs are said to be landscapes, portraits, flowers and bamboo and small animals. It was reported that he lived the life of a Taoist after the collapse of Southern Song, but the details of that are not known. Like many other Song-painting hanging scrolls that came to Japan, this piece is thought to have originally been created as part of a picture album and made into a hanging scroll after being imported to Japan to fit the taste of tea-ceremony culture. It was previously owned by the Asano clan.