Tang Hou is an important Chinese author in the field of traditional painting and calligraphy connoisseurship and painting theory. Details of his life, such as his native place and dates of birth and death, are now unknown, and publicly available information is very limited. One work by him is held in the collection, namely Hua Jian (Painting Mirror). Judging from its transmitted content, Hua Jian mainly consists of evaluations of painters and paintings of successive dynasties, together with discussions of the origins and development of painting, analysis of styles, and notes on connoisseurship and collecting. Its prose is concise and well organized, reflecting the author's familiarity with the tradition of brush and ink and the course of painting history. The book is often classified among works on Eastern philosophy and art theory and has a certain reference value among writings on painting and calligraphy connoisseurship; later historians of painting have frequently cited it. Because verifiable biographical material is scarce, understanding of the man and his book still rests mainly on Hua Jian itself and related catalogues and records.
