Yi Am (b. 1499) was the great-grandson of King Sejong’s (r. 1418–50) fourth son, Prince Imyong (1418–1469), and enjoyed success as a scholar-painter. Only about twelve of his paintings survive. Yi Am’s works were appreciated and studied by some of the leading Japanese artists of the seventeenth century, such as the Rinpa-school painter Tawaraya Sotatsu. This charming composition, the best known of the artist’s extant paintings, depicts three puppies beneath a flowering tree. One puppy sleeps, another is seated quietly, and the third, in the foreground, plays with a grasshopper. A large butterfly and a bee have attracted the attention of a pair of birds perched in the tree. The same puppies appear in other paintings by Yi Am, suggesting that he drew the compositions from life over a relatively short period.