Ink and colors.  Illustration of the anecdote of the Three Laughers which in the Lu-shan chi is recorded as follows: "Master Yuan dwelled in his hut on Mount Lu for over thirty years without ever leaving the mountain to enter the common world.  When seeing off visitors, he made it a point never to go beyond the bridge at Tiger stream.  In those days Tao Yuan-liang used to live in Mount Li and Lu Hsiu-ching in the southern side of the mountain also in search of the Tao.  Once when Master Yuan was seeing off these two guests, they walked engrossed in discussions of the Tao and, without knowing it, he had unwittingly crossed the stream.  Upon this discovery the three hermits laughed uproariously."

The work is unsigned.  The three old men are depicted with their faces turned upward in great laughter, the expression is natural and lively, their gestures are extremely life-like, truly capturing the spirit of the theme.  The composition, placement of trees, rocks and streams is masterly and the brushwork is vigorous and yet pliant and smooth.  This is among the outstanding examples of anonymous paintings of the Sung period.