Follower of Lin Liang (ca. 1428-ca. 1495), Hawk Pursuing Water Birds, hanging scroll,
ink and color on silk, Gift of Charles Lang Freer, F1919.146

Falcons: Art of the Hunt, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution
Final day July 17, 2022

Swift, fierce, and loyal, falcons have been celebrated for millennia. In ancient Egypt, they were closely associated with Horus, the god of the heavens. By the early eighth century in Syria, falcons were being trained to become skillful hunters at the royal courts. The art of falconry soon spread across the rest of the Islamic world, to the Byzantine empire in the west, and to the east as far as China. It is still practiced in many societies today, especially in the Arab world.