Ma Lin (thirteenth century)

Original: Ink and color on silk, 27.6 X42.9cm.

Leaf 8 of the album: Ming hua chi-chen

Snow-laden brambles and bamboo angle outward above a craggy slope in the lower right corner of the painting. Two birds perch on the brambles shivering in the cold air. The inscription in the upper left corner reads:

"Concealed on the powdery branch, huddling together, wing to wing, does not even break the chill." The artist signed the work on the rocks just below the foliage. A label inscribed with the artist's name and the title of the work was added later to the right of the leaf.

Ma Lin was from Ch'ien-t'ang, Chekiang. The son of Ma Yuan, Ma Lin attained the position of chih-hou in the court painting of Ning-tsung. Coming from a family with a long scholarly history, he was talented at painting landscapes as well as bird and flower subjects. It was said that Ma Yuan often signed Ma Lin's name to his own paintings in hope of spreading the fame of his son. Nevertheless, all the works traditionally assigned to Ma Lin possess his own particular style, distinct from that of his father.