Han Yu (twelfth century)

Original: Ink and colors on silk, 25.3 x 26 cm.

Leaf 13 of the album: Collected Works of Sung and Yuan Masters

Two katydids are pictured feeding on the leaves of an unripe melon.            

Han Yu, born in Shih-ch'eng, Honan, was quite adept at sketching from nature. He attained the position of chlh-hou within the Shao-hsing Painting Academy and was said to have taught Lin Chun, another painter, how to paint bird and flower as well as insect and wild grass subjects. Han Yu's watercolor wash technique tends toward linearity rather than total realism. His works are of the same calibre as his contemporary, Wang Tsung-yuan. Han Yu's exact birth and death dates are not known.