Reclining Tiger

This crouching tiger has a face that might make you smile. With its wide, surprised eyes and soft, fuzzy coat, the big cat looks less like a jungle hunter and more like a house pet that just heard a strange noise. Chinese artist Ju Lian painted this scene in 1880, using the loose, watery brushwork that gives traditional ink painting its gentle charm. The tiger seems to rise out of a wash of pale green and gray, framed by fast strokes of grass and a curving tree branch.

Ju Lian came from the Lingnan region of southern China and earned a strong reputation for a clever method where colors and water mixed directly on the paper. That blending gives the animal its dappled, blurry coat and the soft pools of color spreading below it. Realism was clearly not his goal here. He seemed far more interested in mood, and this tiger feels playful and a little dreamy rather than dangerous. The small red seal in the corner is his personal stamp, marking the work as his own.

His influence stretched well beyond this single painting. Ju Lian taught and inspired many artists, including the founders of the famous Lingnan School. So even though his tiger looks harmless and almost comical, the man who painted it helped steer the direction of Chinese art for generations to come.