KAKEJIKU in ink and colour on paper, depicting a falcon on a red perch, shown from the back with its head turned to the left. With a stamp in the top left-hand corner imitating one of the seals from the painting on which it is based. (Signs of wear, minor imperfections, crazing). Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912) A KAKEJIKU, INK AND COLOURS ON PAPER, A FALCON, AFTER A PAINTING BY SONG HUIZONG, JAPAN, MEIJI PERIOD. DIM. 111 X 40.5 CM (43 11/16 X 15 15/16 IN.) Enclosed is a reproduction of the painting that inspired this work: a falcon in colour on paper, based on a Chinese painting by Emperor Song Huizong (1100–1126) held at the Palace Museum (Forbidden City) in Beijing. DIM. 119 × 60 CM (46 7/8 × 23 5/8 IN.) Note Although inspired by – rather than an exact copy of – a Chinese painting, this work is undoubtedly by a Japanese artist, who was, moreover, well-versed in falconry. To quote someone who knows the subject well: “I shall mention just one detail that goes unnoticed, but which cannot be invented and is very important to anyone with even a passing knowledge of falconry: he has added to the bird’s upper mandible the tomial tooth (the ‘V’-shaped notch at the edge of the beak) characteristic of falconids, which is missing from Huizong’s bird of prey. If Huizong produced an accurate drawing, he did not depict a peregrine falcon (a falconid) but a goshawk (an accipitrid). This is, however, a less ‘noble’ bird of prey than the peregrine falcon, and I simply think that the Emperor omitted this detail. I also note that the rendering of the feathers and legs is of a much higher standard. It is clear that the copyist did not in any way seek to produce a fraudulent forgery but took certain liberties with the original Chinese imperial work, just as the Japanese might have done.”