Ahura

Bian's painting had also won the approval of many scholar officials in court, including Yang Rong, Zhang Ning, Lin Huan, and Xie Jin. This reflects the unique political background of the Yong-le era, when the Grand Secretaries gained political power and acted as artistic patrons in court. Under such patronage, Bian produced a collaborative work with the scholar painter, Wang Fu, who served as a Zhong-shu she-ren (Secretariat Drafter) and was also under the supervision of Huang. Unfortunately, the patronage of Huang and other scholar officials for the Yong-le court painters did not last long. They were soon replaced by the eunuchs at the end of the Yong-le era. Huang Huai suffered a severe blow to his career in 1413, when he was charged with misconduct and jailed for ten years. In 1414, one year after Huang left the court, Guo Chun, the first court painter recommended by Huang was transferred to the eunuch controlled Yu-yong-jian (Directorate (Directorate for Imperial for Imperial Accoutre- ments). This changed dramatically the court painters' status. Bian must have also been affected by the change. In fact, it may not be coincidental that Bian's career ended in 1427, when the eunuchs gained total control of the court painters. The disgraceful ending of Bian's career may also have contributed to the lack of information about Bian's biography and the underestimation of his painting.

Although mainly known as a flower-and-bird painter, Bian also painted horses, cats, architecture and landscape; as the first, Bian was considered the last great painter in the Song flower-and-bird tradition. Indeed, compared with the Yuan masters of this subject, Bian superseded them in the technical disciplines of a wide variety of specialized subjects and thus linked his style closer to the Song or earlier traditions, so it is not surprising that many of Bian's works were often intentionally or mistakenly attributed to Song masters. In general, Bian's success lies in his ability to combine the revived Song tradition of flower-and-bird with the late Yuan trend of the Min-Zhe region and thus enormously extend the pictorial scope of this subject. At the same time, Bian continued to develop increasingly complex and decorative representational techniques. His achievement was carried on by the following generations of flower-and-bird painters at court: Lin Liang, Lu Ji and Yin Hong Although each pursued a different aspect of Bian's styles, they reflected the same decorative trend he initiated.

One of Bian's favourite themes is various birds against the background of the “three friends of winter” (Pine, Bamboo and Plum blossom). This apparently relates to the Yuan tradition which favours depiction of such themes, as seen in many works by Wang Yuan (ca. 1280-1349). Yet Bian's themes often carried even richer symbolic or moral meanings when the symbolic plants were combined with symbolic birds, such as cranes, eagles, wagtails and magpies. While magpies as auspicious signs and cranes as the symbol of immortality were long established themes in the past, paintings of wagtails symbolizing brotherly love between friends, or eagles symbolizing the courage of a military official or censor were themes made more popular by Bian, since he frequently depicted such themes and presented them to his friends with such specific references.

Bian's earliest dated extant work is San-you bai gin (The “Three Friends” and a Hundred Birds) in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. According to Bian's inscription, it was painted in 1413 at Chang-an guan-she (the official residence of Chang-an), which the writer believes was located in Beijing. The painting shows ninety birds surrounded by the “three friends of winter”. Here, Bian placed the “three friends” on the left side and then balanced the composition by arranging the larger and darker birds on the right. The numerous birds, with great varieties of species and poses, are skilfully arranged so that they do not appear crowded. Each bird was vividly depicted with painstakingly fine brush strokes and subtle shades of colour washes. The technique demonstrates Bian's discipline in the tradition of Huang Quan. All landscape elements are painted in a sketchy and linear manner. While the bamboo and plum blossoms can be traced to the Yuan tradition of Zhao Meng-fu and Wang Yuan, the axe-cut texture strokes indicate influences of the Southern Song tradition. Both traditions had a strong hold in the Min-Zhe region in the 14th century. The successful integration of the Song and Yuan traditions and the calculated placement of the forms in a decorative manner formed the typical style of Bian.

Another painting on the same theme as San-you bai-qin is Bai-xi-tu (Hundreds of Birds), which belongs to the same museum collection. The inscription attributed to Bian dated 1427. The composition is only a variant of the 1413 painting, but compared with San-you of 1413, both the painting and the inscription are in inferior quality. Bai-xi showed the tendency to compress further the various motifs into surface patterns. Furthermore, the lively individual expressions of the different birds, seen in the 1413 work, are lost here. The lack of vigour and variation in brushwork indicates that it is probably a later copy.