Huang Jucai
Defined early Song court bird-and-flower style
Huang Jucai(黄居寀) (cǎi) (933 — after 993), courtesy name Boluan(伯鸾), was from Chengdu (now in Sichuan) and the third son of the famous Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms painter Huang Quan(黄筌). He was good at painting flowers, bamboo, and bird-and-bamboo paintings, and served as a court painter in Western Shu. After Shu fell and he entered the Song dynasty, he received the favor of Emperor Taizong of Song, and the Huang family's painting techniques became the standard for evaluating paintings in the early Song imperial painting academy. He excelled in outlining, with strong, steady brushwork, and his use of color was rich and gorgeous. His depictions of garden bamboo and birds were lifelike and natural looking. His paintings of strange rocks and landscapes even surpassed his father’s work. Like his father, he served as a court painter in Later Shu and continued in the same role after entering the Song dynasty. He also collaborated on walls, screens, and curtains for the palace, and the scope of his work was too numerous to list.