Cat and Sparrows

Byeon Sangbyeok, a painter of middle-class origin, who was active in the early 18th century, broke away from the Confucian tradition and ideal. He was a member of the Office of Arts and a portraitist, and in addition did many paintings of animal life of which this is one example. He was especially renowned for his painting of cats. The cats are shown, one on the ground and one poised uncertainly on the trunk of the tree while six sparrows are scattered through the branches.