Ku K'ai-chih (344–406)

Chinese painter and calligrapher. Although essentially a figure painter, he also painted animals and landscapes. His Admonitions of the Instructress in the Palace is a scroll consisting of a series of illustrations to a text by the poet Chang Hua (British Museum, London).

Inspired by Taoist thought, he was the first to express the idea that painting is not merely the representation of externals but the revelation of character or spirit. He was born in what is now Jiangsu province, eastern China.