Artists › Painters and Calligraphers
Dai Song
Tang painter who served Han Huang in western Zhejiang and learned painting from him, famed for water buffalo, as in the saying Han's horses, Dai's oxen
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 Inspector Dai Song of Zhexi
Nothing is known of Dai Song's birth or death. When Han Huang governed western Zhejiang under Emperor Dezong, he made Dai his inspector, and Dai learned painting from him. He excelled at water buffalo, catching their wild strength and sinew, so that he was paired with the horse painter Han Gan in the phrase Han's horses, Dai's oxen; he also painted farmland and river plains. Su Shi recorded a herd boy laughing at a Dai Song painting of fighting bulls with their tails in the air. The Fighting Bulls hanging scroll in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is attributed to him.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in the reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang (780–805)