Ma Hezhi (马和之) (1130—1170), Chinese, Song Dynasty (960–1279), a native of Qiantang (modern Hangzhou), rose to prominence during the Gaozong and Xiaozong reigns. A scholar-official who attained the rank of Vice Minister of Works, he bridged courtly aesthetics and literati ideals. Renowned for his "willow-leaf描法" (liuye miao), a lyrical line technique likened to "dancing silken threads," he infused landscapes with poetic subtlety, departing from the dense realism of his contemporaries. Commissioned to illustrate the Classic of Poetry, his works harmonized Confucian symbolism with ethereal naturalism, earning praise from later critics like Wang Meng (元代王蒙) as "washing away ostentation, embracing purity and harmony".