Preparatory sketch

Sketch in ink and colour pigment depicting a cat asleep under pink bush peonies. Some of the lower peony leaves have been retraced in red. A sleeping house cat and bush peonies in full bloom were depicted together in Chinese painting from at least the tenth century. Two plants sit either side of the scholar’s ornamental rock. The sparrows on top of the rock are clearly delighted to be free of the cat’s attentions.