Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Cui Que
Northern Song bird-and-flower painter, younger brother of Cui Bai, credited with him for changing the academy style
A desk holds an unrolled sheet bearing three bold black ink strokes, with a rack of many brushes above it, a stone ink slab and ink stick, a porcelain bowl, a red lacquer box, a dish of red seal paste and a paperweight; a small seated figure shows through a round window onto bamboo.
Also known as Zi Zizhong
Cui Que, courtesy name Zizhong, was the younger brother of the Northern Song painter Cui Bai and rose to the minor palace rank of attendant of the left. The Xuanhe Catalogue of Paintings says he painted flowers, bamboo and birds like his brother, was especially fond of painting hares, and composed his subjects much as Cui Bai did but with a freer brush. Early Song academy bird-and-flower painting kept to the model of Huang Quan and his sons, and the catalogue states that the style changed with the arrival of Cui Que and his brother. A leaf of Quails and Wolfberries in the album Collected Paintings of the Tang, Song and Yuan in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is traditionally attributed to him.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active late 11th century, around the reign of Shenzong