Ahura

Bian apparently chose the Song theme of depicting the eagle with its prey, yet the captured bird occupied a much less significant role than those in the Song works. At the same time, the enlarged eagle clearly possessed the same symbolic qualities of the eagles of the Yuan dynasty. The eyes of the eagle are no longer keenly focused on its prey, like those in the Song works but are looking triumphantly and calmly at the world below. The effective use of the few carefully selected landscape elements once more demonstrate Bian's unique decorative sense.

Bian's innovative approach and his breakthrough from the past tradition seem best represented in some of his small scale sketches. In Li-xi tu (Chestnut and Magpie), Bian depicts a magpie on top of a chestnut stem. The bird, standing straight with its beak slightly open, appears to be chirping happily. It indeed evokes the Chinese image of xi-que (magpie), the bird that brings the good news, which in this case is the chestnut harvest. The work carries Bian's signature, which appears convincing when compared with those on his San-you bai-qin and Bo-ying tu. The magpie, drawn in Bian's typical fine brushwork, displays the same vitality as those in his 1413 work. Also comparable are the brush strokes for the husk of the chestnut and those for the pine needles of the 1413 work. Yet the unique design and the playful manner with which Bian portrayed the curled rims of the chestnut leaves, which are covered with occasional shading and wavy veins, indicate his awareness of his own role in transforming absorbed traditions into a personal style.

Bian's effort to create new expressions from traditional themes and techniques is also shown in his Qiu-tang ji-ling (Wagtails in an Autumn Pond), a small album leaf in the Shanghai Museum depicting two wagtails playing in a lotus pond. The lotus and feed indicate the seasonal colours of autumn. According to Bian's own inscription, it was painted for his colleague Xin-zhong: as mentioned earlier, a pair of wagtails symbolize brotherly love, a theme frequently depicted by Bian for his friends. Here the wagtail on the right, turning around and looking at his companion, indeed shows a feeling of deep concern. Although the birds are still drawn in the meticulous manner of his early works, the lotus leaf on the lower right corner, its texture defined by the “nail-head” lines and transparent colour and ink washes, shows a playfulness in the rhythmic movement of the lines and dabs which is clearly an individual expression by Bian. Once more, we find his interest in portraying the broken leaves and the decorative placement of his motifs; yet the most outstanding aspect here is Bian's conscious play of the ink washes and the “boneless” technique as seen in the depiction of the lotus leaf, the lily pads and the reed. This aspect, which appeared only in his later works, is often ignored in discussions of Bian's style.

Further evidence of Bian's fascination with the boneless technique and “ink play” is provided by Han-mei shui-que (Sleeping Bird on a Prunus Branch), a small album leaf in the Cleveland Museum of Art. The faded yet convincing signature of Bian on the upper left provides us with an important clue to the date of the work. Bian signed himself here as a Wu-ying-dian dai-zhao. As discussed earlier, this is the last official title Bian held, and it was very likely offered to him at the beginning of the Xuan-de era. Therefore the Cleveland album leaf can be placed at the very late stage of Bian's career and life. Unlike the album painting of wagtails, the boneless method is now no longer limited to land- scape elements. The small sparrow, resting on a bare branch of prunus tree, is painted completely in monochrome ink with the boneless technique. The simplicity of vision and the high quality of the ink washes may remind us of similar techniques used by Mu Xi. Yet, Bian's approach here is actually quite different from the spontaneous brushwork of Mu Xi. Bian's abbreviated style in the boneless method is achieved through long discipline in the traditions of Huang Quan, Zhao Chang and the others. By replacing colours with ink, Bian did not discard this discipline, rather, he carried it to a more intensive level. As with all Bian's masterpieces, one is drawn into the intimate world of the bird and invited to share its tranquil state on a wintry night. The subtle shades and smooth textures of the bird's features, the softness of its belly, were all achieved by various brush strokes and intricate ink washes without any outlines. The claws are represented only by a simple hook stroke, which yet convincingly provides the illusion of the tactile quality of the rest of its body. The prunus branch, painted in the same boneless method, shows freer and swifter movements of the brush. This small painting demonstrated that Bian had finally achieved his ultimate goal of not only forming a unique style of his own, but of offering new ways of portraying the flower-and-bird subject by mastering techniques and themes of past traditions and by transcending them through his own brush and ink. Considering what Bian had achieved, it is then easy to see how the following generations of painters of this subject, Lin Liang, Lu Ji, Yin Hong, Wang Qian and many others, followed his lead and continued to develop the various themes and approaches he first employed.

Bian's historical significance lies in his success in bringing the revived Song flower-and-bird tradition from the Min-Zhe region to the early Ming court and developing it further into the new decorative trend. His career and his painting both reflected the unique political and artistic background of the transition of the late 14th century. As a major figure of the first generation of the Ming court painters, Bian's early service in the Wen-si-yuan, the patronage he received from the Grand Secretaries, and the termination of his career, provide us with further information of the status and activities of the early Ming court painters. Although Bian's career span preceded the formal establishment of the Ming Painting Academy, his accomplishment in flower-and-bird painting had the most enduring influence on Academician painters of this subject throughout the Ming era. Furthermore, the influence of Bian's decorative style had reached beyond China and extended to the Japanese flower-and-bird painters of the 16th century, as the flower-and-bird screens by Sesshu and many of the Kano school masters aptly demonstrate.