Artwork
明 林良 二鷹圖 軸|Two hawks in a thicket
明 林良 二鷹圖 軸|Two hawks in a thicket is an ink painting by the Ming dynasty painting artist Lin Liang. It dates from 1448 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
Hawks were a favored motif among Ming-dynasty court painters, valued for their martial vigor and association with strength, vigilance, and authority.
Two Hawks in a Thicket by Lin Liang depicts hawks, a subject rooted in the Chinese tradition of bird-and-flower painting. Hawks were a favored motif among Ming-dynasty court painters, valued for their martial vigor and association with strength, vigilance, and authority. By rendering the birds amid dense brushwood rather than in flight against open sky, Lin Liang emphasizes their predatory stillness and watchful poise, qualities that resonated with literati and courtly audiences as emblems of resolve and self-possession.
The pairing of two hawks reinforces these connotations, evoking companionship, mutual watchfulness, and the disciplined bearing admired in both human and avian subjects. Executed in ink and color on silk as a hanging scroll, the work adapts the conventional hawk theme into a more intimate, landscape-inflected setting, where the thicket itself becomes a stage for the birds' latent power.
Technique & Style
Two hawks in a thicket is executed in ink and color on silk, mounted as a hanging scroll in the traditional vertical (軸) format associated with Chinese painting. The work is classified as a painting and falls within the landscape genre, with hawks as its subject matter.
Stylistically, the piece reflects Lin Liang's characteristic approach to bird-and-flower painting, employing monochrome ink combined with selective color on a silk ground to render the raptors within their natural setting. No specific condition report, handling notes, or detailed technical analysis of brushwork or pigment are documented in the available sources.
History & Provenance
The hanging scroll Two Hawks in a Thicket by Lin Liang is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work, created in 1448, is classified as a painting executed in ink and color on silk. While the museum location is confirmed, the provided sources do not specify a unique accession number or a detailed exhibition history for this specific piece.
Overview
Created in 1448 during the Ming dynasty, this hanging scroll by Lin Liang presents a quiet natural scene. Rendered in ink and color on silk, the work measures the traditional format of Chinese scroll painting and focuses on two hawks settled within a dense thicket.
Artist & collection
