Japanese and Chinese Landscape Art

Traditional scenes featuring serene landscapes, flora, and fauna from Japan and China, characterized by soft tones and intricate brushwork.

White-robed Kannon, mid 19th century, Nakabayashi Chikkei, Japanese, 1816 - 1867, 40 5/8 × 12 9/16 in. (103.19 × 31.91 cm) (image)65 1/4 × 17 5/16 in. (165.74 × 43.97 cm) (mount, without roller), Ink on paper, Japan, 19th century

Snowy Landscape. Artist: Takahashi Sohei (Japanese, 1804-1835). Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image: 53 15/16 × 19 5/16 in. (137 × 49 cm)Overall with mounting: 77 1/16 × 21 5/8 in. (195.8 × 55 cm)Overall with knobs: 77 1/16 × 23 11/16 in. (195.8 × 60.2 cm). Date: 1824. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Geese and Reeds. Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image: 19 5/8 × 11 7/16 in. (49.8 × 29 cm)Overall with mounting: 50 7/8 × 15 15/16 in. (129.3 × 40.5 cm)Overall with knobs: 50 7/8 × 17 7/8 in. (129.3 × 45.4 cm). Date: late 14th century.It is near the end of autumn and three geese have alighted on a sandbank, indicated only by faint washy brushstrokes, with drier, darker strokes delineating withered reeds at the water's edge. One goose is at rest while the others crane their necks to call at the sky, perhaps signaling others in their flock who have begun their journey south. The pictorial combination of geese and reeds, introduced to Japan from China in the thirteenth century, was a popular subject for early Japanese Zen artist-monks such as Tesshu Tokusai (d. 1366), with whom paintings of this type are often associated. Because of its refined quality and sophisticated use of the brush--unusual among the earliest examples of Japanese ink paintings--this work was once thought to be of Ch

Kesi Panel: Rocks and Chrysanthemums, 1700s-1800s. China, Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Silk; embroidered; overall: 101 x 58.4 cm (39 3/4 x 23 in.).

An Afternoon Visit near Tall Pines. Date: 16th century. Origin: China. Period: Ming dynasty. Hanging scroll; ink on silk. Museum: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

Silver Pheasants under Spring Blossoms, Ye Shuangshi, c. 1500 A hanging roll painting, ink and color on silk, with a representation of a few silver pheasants in rocks and peonies, magnolia, orchid and other spring flowers. China ink. silk A hanging roll painting, ink and color on silk, with a representation of a few silver pheasants in rocks and peonies, magnolia, orchid and other spring flowers. China ink. silk

Plum Blossoms 18th-19th century Minagawa Kien. Plum Blossoms. Minagawa Kien (Japanese, 1734-1807). Japan. 18th-19th century. Hanging scroll; ink on paper. Edo period (1615-1868). Paintings

Landscape with Figure Xie Shichen Chinese. Landscape with Figure 45807

White-robed Kannon, mid 19th century, Nakabayashi Chikkei, Japanese, 1816 - 1867, 40 5/8 × 12 9/16 in. (103.19 × 31.91 cm) (image)65 1/4 × 17 5/16 in. (165.74 × 43.97 cm) (mount, without roller), Ink on paper, Japan, 19th century

Sparrow and Bamboo ca. 1821 Sakai Hitsu In this narrow composition a sparrow balances on a branchlet of bamboo; the silvery tones of the primary stalk contrast with the dark ink of its leaves and joints. Sakai Hitsu is best known for his revival of the art of Rinpa-school master Ogata Krin (1658-1716) and for his polychrome paintings in the Rinpa style. He was also a master of ink, however, as this lively collaborative work indicates. Kameda Bsai, a Confucian scholar, inscribed colophons on paintings by several important artists of his day, including Hitsu and his younger follower Suzuki Kiitsu (1799-1858). Here, his cursive calligraphy appears just below Hitsu’s perching sparrow. Bsai often claimed to work while intoxicated, which may account for the hasty but animated quality of his brushwork.. Sparrow and Bamboo. Sakai Hitsu (Japanese, 1761-1828). Japan. ca. 1821. Hanging scroll; ink on paper. Edo period (1615-1868). Paintings

Birds and Flowers. Korea, Korean, Joseon (1392-1910), 18th-19th century. Paintings; screens. Four-panel screen, ink and color on paper

"Profound Sincerity" ca.1780-90 Jiun Sonja Born and raised in Osaka, Jiun Sonja was a scholar with wide-ranging spiritual interests who was ordained as a Shingon Buddhist monk but later turned to the study of Zen and Shinto. A reformist concerned about the moral laxity of the Buddhist clergy of his day, he drew in his calligraphy upon the energetic, spontaneously brushed works of Zen monks of the past. In this hanging scroll, the words profound sincerity” were taken from the Sutra of Meditation on Amida Buddha (Kanmuryōju-kyō), a Pure Land Buddhist text, but Jiun’s vigorous, brusquely inscribed characters clearly reflect the strength and austerity of traditional Zen monastic training.. "Profound Sincerity". Jiun Sonja (Japanese, 1718-1804). Japan. ca.1780-90. Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper. Edo period (1615-1868). Calligraphy

Album of 12 Landscapes Album of 12 Landscapes, 18th century. Ink and light color on silk, Image: 12 1/8 x 9 in. (30.8 x 22.9 cm). Asian Art 18th century

New Year's decorations with a tiger. A bronze statue of a tiger is in a niche (Tokonoma) with New Year's decorations, including strips of paper and fern leaf, and a painting with calligraphy. The tiger refers to the new year of the tiger (1806), and the red characters between the calligraphy on the painting give the long months before that year. With one poem, on the painting.

Spring Rain Collection (Harusame shu), vol. 2: Cut Flowers: Clematis, Bush Clover, Iris, Camellia, and Azalea. Artist: Kubo Shunman (Japanese, 1757-1820). Culture: Japan. Dimensions: 8 5/16 x 11 1/16 in. (21.1 x 28.1 cm). Date: 1815 (Year of the Ox).Surimono are privately published woodblock prints, usually commissioned by individual poets or poetry groups as a form of New Year's greeting card. The poems, most commonly kyoka (witty thirty-one syllable verse), inscribed on the prints usually include felicitous imagery connected with spring, which in the lunar calendar begins on the first day of the first month. Themes of surimono are often erudite, frequently alluding to Japanese literary classics in both texts and images. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

A Plum Flower Scent Hits My Nose”. Artist: Mokuan Sh?t?, Chinese, 1611-1684

Wagtails, early 16th century, Kenkō Shōkei, Japanese, active before 1478-ca. 1523, 15 1/16 × 22 3/4 in. (38.26 × 57.79 cm) (image)47 3/4 × 28 5/8 in. (121.29 × 72.71 cm) (mount, without roller), Ink on paper, Japan, 16th century, Kenkō Shōkei was both a Zen priest and a highly skilled ink painter who spent most of his career at the major Zen monastery Kenchōji in the city of Kamakura. Here he depicted a pair of wagtails on branches in strikingly contrasting poses. One stares down to the right as if aiming at some prey, while the other stands straight with a glance to the left. Shōkei painted his birds using a rapid brush technique called 'boneless' (that is, without outlines), a method seen as particularly suitable for Zen themes. This combination of compositional device and technique suggests that these wagtails once flanked a third painting of a Zen deity or patriarch as part of a devotional triptych. Pictures of birds or flowers often served this purpose in Zen painting. But Shōkei

Eizan Kikugawa / 'Cortesana de Yoshiwara', 1820-1830, Japanese School, Paper, 710 mm x 235 mm, G05650. Museum: MUSEO DEL PRADO, MADRID, SPAIN.

Fisherman and Reeds, Album-Leaf Painting Fisherman and Reeds, Album-Leaf Painting, 19th century. Ink and light color on paper, Exclusive mounting: 8 3/8 x 10 1/4 in. (21.3 x 26 cm). Asian Art 19th century

Snowy Landscape ca. 1550 Toki Tōbun A rocky landscape of boulders and twisting pines dominates the curved surface of the fan painting. A distant landscape of towering peaks is partially obscured by a mist of gold wash, and in the foreground a small peasant hut is visible on the right, two boatmen on the water on the left. The composition is representative of the type of landscape image popular among Japanese ink painters of the late Muromachi period, who took as models both Chinese Southern Song dynasty academy paintings of the thirteenth century and later Chinese academic paintings of the Ming dynasty. The artists brushwork is characterized by a nervous, jagged line, but the handling and placement of the pictorial elements—generally weighted on the right side of the composition—the use of outlines, ink dots, and the overall theme of the image indicate that he had studied ink painting technique and was familiar with ink landscape paintings by Chinese artists, or perhaps Japanese copie

Grapes, 1800s. Sugai Baikan (Japanese, 1784-1844). Hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper; painting only: 129 x 53.3 cm (50 13/16 x 21 in.); including mounting: 190.5 x 64.8 cm (75 x 25 1/2 in.). This loose composition is a casual work likely created for an acquaintance by Sugai Baikan, an artist known for his ink landscapes. Baikan was from Sendai in Thoku, and painted there before traveling to Edo (Tokyo) and then Kyoto, where he viewed a fan painting by Nagasaki-based Chinese businessman and artist Jiang Jiapu (dates unknown). Inspired, he moved to Nagasaki and studied with Jiang for many years, learning Chinese painting history and techniques. Then, after a stint in Osaka during which he enjoyed wide acclaim in painting and poetry circles, he returned to Sendai. Following a series of natural disasters in the region, his life fell into disarray and he drowned himself in a well.

Cats, birds, and flowers. Origin: China. Date: 15th century. Period: Ming dynasty. Ink and color on silk. Museum: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

Kosode Fragment second half of the 18th-19th century Japan. Kosode Fragment 61813

Returning Fishermen. Artist: Tang Di (Chinese, ca. 1287-1355). Culture: China. Dimensions: Image: 52 7/8 x 33 7/8 in. (134.3 x 86 cm)Overall with mounting: 98 3/4 x 38 1/2 in. (250.8 x 97.8 cm)Overall with knobs: 98 3/4 x 42 3/4 in. (250.8 x 108.6 cm). Date: dated 1342.The paintings of Tang Di, a scholar and official at the Yuan court, range from ink drawings on paper to largescale colored works on silk. A fellow townsman and follower of the scholar-painter Zhao Mengfu (1257-1322), Tang won praise from Emperor Renzong (r. 1312-20) for his part in the decoration of the Yuan imperial palace.Returning Fisherman is a fine example of Tang Di's monumental decorative style. Tang executed the scroll in the conservative brush idiom of the Northern Song masters Li Cheng (919-967) and Guo Xi (ca. 1000-ca. 1090), building forms with the principal motifs of the earlier style, "crab-claw" branches and "billowing-cloud" rocks. Following Zhao Mengfu's example of employing calligraphic techniques in pa

Orchid. Date/Period: 1306. Painting. Ink on paper. Width: 42.4 cm. Height: 25.7 cm. Author: Zheng Sixiao.

Picture Book in the Katsushika Style (Ehon Katsushika-buri) ca. 1836 Katsushika Hokusai Japanese These drawings on thin sheets of paper were originally intended to be pasted onto woodblocks as templates and cut through. Advertisements at the end of the warrior books Warriors Illustrated: China and Japan (Ehon sakigake) and The Stirrups of Musashi (Ehon Musashi abumi) of 1836 suggest that the volume Katsushikaburi was meant to be part of the same series. However, for unknown reasons, the publication was canceled, and these drawings were arranged in an album format.This sheet shows the warrior Wada Heita Tamenaga stabbing a giant snake.. Picture Book in the Katsushika Style (Ehon Katsushika-buri). Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, Tokyo (Edo) 1760-1849 Tokyo (Edo)). Japan. ca. 1836. Folding album of twenty-eight block-ready drawings (hanshita-e) for book illustrations; ink on paper with woodblock-printed borders and titles. Edo period (1615-1868). Paintings

Beetle on elderflower. Hu, Jiarui (fl. 1701-1801), painter

Scene from The Kōrin Picture Book (Volume 2), 1800s. Nakamura Hōchū (Japanese, d. 1819). Color woodblock printed book; Ogata Korin (1658-1716) was one of the most admired artists of Rimpa, or "decorative school painting." These books by the charming later-generation Rimpa artist Hochu record Korin's inventive designs.

Dam in Amsterdam at moonlight. Front figures. Page 49 and page 50 from a sketchbook with 41 sheets.

Herdboys and Buffalo in Landscapes, 1200s. Guo Min (Chinese, mid-late 1200s). Hanging scroll, ink on silk; painting: 92.7 x 56.5 cm (36 1/2 x 22 1/4 in.). Herdboys tend their buffalo in a bucolic landscape by a winding stream. Guo Min emphasizes the massive forms and mighty power of the animals, transforming them into forces of nature. The poem in the first scroll reads: "The bulls are engaging in fighting, Cautiously, each seeks to overcome the other. The herdboy calmly stands by. Untying his belt, he silently watches." The poem in the second scroll reads: "Together, they wade through the middle of the stream, Mindless of perils in the journey. The grass grows tall in the village ahead, While the mist and rain spread far and wide."

Anchorage on a Rainy Night 1477 Shen Zhou Anchorage on a Rainy Night illustrates how Ming scholar-artists intertwined poetry and painting to create a vehicle for intimate exchanges among a close-knit circle of friends. Radiating a mood of subdued introspection, the painting mirrors Shen's state of mind less than two months after his father's death, when he found solace in a friend's company. Shen drew on the pictorial vocabulary of the Yuan artist Huang Gongwang (1269-1354): softly contoured peaks, flat plateaus, and outcrops of round boulders accented by dark foliage dots and a few foreground trees. But Shen simplified Huang's complex brush idiom to a few brush conventions and a narrow range of ink tonalities, and he reduced Huang's richly articulated compositional structure to a geometric scheme of repeated diagonals in which the wedge-shaped foreground, receding stream, echelon of successively taller trees, and distant mountain slope all point toward the upper right, where he added

Orchids in hanging basket. Artist: Kim Gyujin (Korean, 1868-1933). Culture: Korea. Dimensions: Image: 55 1/4 × 15 3/4 in. (140.3 × 40 cm)Overall with mounting: 81 1/8 × 21 5/8 in. (206 × 55 cm)Overall with knobs: 81 1/8 × 23 7/8 in. (206 × 60.7 cm). Date: early 20th century.A founding member of the Calligraphy and Painting Association (seohwa hyeophoe, established in 1918), Kim Gyujin was a recognized calligrapher and literati artist. He studied ink painting and calligraphy for a decade in China, having traveled there at age eighteen, and learned photography in Japan in 1907. In 1920 Kim and other notable artists received a royal commission to decorate the buildings of the Changdeok Palace complex, for which he completed two polychrome wall paintings.This image of orchids puts a slight twist on the traditional literati subject. Typically, an ink painting of orchids depicts the delicate flowers sprouting from rocks--the blossoms associated with winter and, like bamboo (see the scrol

Prostitute as Mitate of Fugen, c. 1720, Okumura Toshinobu, Japanese, fl. c.1717-1750, 32 11/16 x 12 5/8 in. (83 x 32 cm) (image)62 5/8 x 16 3/4 in. (159 x 42.5 cm) (mount) 48 cm W w/rollers, Ink and color on silk, Japan, Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e

Woodcuts of mushrooms, created between 1701 and 1800. The image is from a book and measures 8 1/4 x 6 5/16 inches (21 x 16 cm)

Pair of Kadomatsu (pine decorations) 1797 Kubo Shunman Japanese. Pair of Kadomatsu (pine decorations). Kubo Shunman (Japanese, 1757-1820). Japan. 1797. Woodblock print (surimono); ink and color on paper. Edo period (1615-1868). Prints

Takanawa (title on object) A new series of famous places in the Eastern capital (series title) Shinkoku Toto meisho (series title on object), Goose diving in full moon over Takanawa bay, anchored ships in the harbor and a litter on the quay. In the background the village of Shinagawa., Hiroshige (I), Utagawa (mentioned on object), Japan, 1833 - 1837, paper, colour woodcut, h 365 mm × w 120 mm

Album of Daoist and Buddhist Themes: Search the Mountain: Leaf 43, 1200s. China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). Album, ink on paper; sheet: 34.1 x 38.5 cm (13 7/16 x 15 3/16 in.).

Japanese White-eyes with Plum Tree and Willow, from Spring Rain Surimono Album (Harusame surimono-jō, vol. 3) ca. 1810 Kubo Shunman Japanese Surimono are privately published woodblock prints, usually commissioned by poets or poetry groups as a form of New Years greeting card. The poems, most commonly kyōka (witty thirty-one syllable verse), inscribed on the prints usually include felicitous imagery connected with spring, which in the lunar calendar begins on the first day of the first month. Themes of surimono are often erudite, frequently alluding to Japanese literary classics in both texts and images.This album belongs to a set of three compiled by Hayashi Tadamasa, the great Parisian dealer of Japanese art. Hayashi arranged the more than four hundred prints in the set on facing leaves according to themes, or in a way that created an attractive arrangement of designs, complementary in both color and shape. The pigments, printing techniques, and paper used for surimono often were of

Eggplants. Okamoto Jen (Haginob Jen) (Japan, 1628-1673). Japan, mid-17th century. Paintings; scrolls. Hanging scroll; ink on paper

Wild geese descending to sandbar late 15th-early 16th century Unidentified artist Set in the modern province of Hunan, China, this landscape depicts a river valley and distant mountains with a flock of flying geese, the identifying marker of one of the most recognizable scenes from the Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers theme. This theme attained renown within Chinese literary and artistic circles during the Song period. Although its fame on the continent receded over time, in Korea, monochrome ink paintings of the subject reached a new height of popularity in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Indeed, early Joseon scrolls and screens illustrating the Eight Views represent Korean transformations of this classic theme.This scroll would originally have been part of a set. The tripartite composition represents the standard iconography of this subject in early Joseon Korea. The style of the work is in the manner of An Gyeon, the preeminent fifteenth-century court artist. With its

Sparrows on Blossoming Plum, 1661. Attributed to Kano Tanyū (Japanese, 1602-1674). One of a triptych of hanging scrolls; ink and slight color on silk; painting only: 97.5 x 37.5 cm (38 3/8 x 14 3/4 in.); including mounting: 181.9 x 54 cm (71 5/8 x 21 1/4 in.).

New Sea of the Arts - 28, 1905 book Part 28 (of 35); red-brown cover with black plant motif; In the middle, white title strip; 10 sheets with 20 pattern designs, of which a pattern of flowers against a green background on the first page; Inside cover; Colophon. paper. color woodcut

Bamboos Unidentified artist. Bamboos. Unidentified artist. China. Handscroll; ink on silk. Ming dynasty () (1368-1644). Paintings

Chinese Bird on Snow-Laden Branch, 1661. Kano Tanyū (Japanese, 1602-1674). One of a triptych of hanging scrolls; ink and slight color on silk; painting only: 97.5 x 37.5 cm (38 3/8 x 14 3/4 in.); including mounting: 181.9 x 54 cm (71 5/8 x 21 1/4 in.).

Twelve Views of Naniwa (Osaka) 19th century Nishiyama Kan'ei Japanese. Twelve Views of Naniwa (Osaka). Nishiyama Kan'ei (Japanese, 1833-1897). Japan. 19th century. Accordion album; ink and color on paper. Illustrated Books

The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting ca. 1748 Wang Gai. The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting. Wang Gai (Chinese, 1645-1710) , et al.. Japan. ca. 1748. Set of two woodblock printed books; ink and color on paper. Edo period (1615-1868). Illustrated Books

Swallows, pleach blossoms, and full moon 1830-1839 Japan. Color woodblock print; otanzaku . Utagawa Hiroshige

Dwelling in the Longmian ("Sleeping Dragon") Mountains, 1100s-1200s. Follower of Li Gonglin (Chinese, c. 1049-1106). Handscroll mounted as an album leaf, ink and color on silk; image: 26.3 x 43 cm (10 3/8 x 16 15/16 in.); mounted: 38.3 x 53.8 cm (15 1/16 x 21 3/16 in.).

Herdboys and Buffalo in Landscape, 1200s. Guo Min (Chinese, mid-late 1200s). Hanging scroll, ink on silk; image: 91 x 56 cm (35 13/16 x 22 1/16 in.); overall with knobs: 193 x 75.4 cm (76 x 29 11/16 in.). Herdboys tend their buffalo in a bucolic landscape by a winding stream. Guo Min emphasizes the massive forms and mighty power of the animals, transforming them into forces of nature. The poem on this scroll reads: "Together, they wade through the middle of the stream, Mindless of perils in the journey. The grass grows tall in the village ahead, While the mist and rain spread far and wide."

Landscape for Old Man Yu on His Birthday. Yuan Jiang (China, about 1691-1746). China, Qing dynasty, about 1691-1746. Paintings. Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk

Fragments (France); Company: Oberkampf & Cie. (France); cotton; Warp x Weft (a): 40.5 × 40 cm (15 15/16 × 15 3/4 in.) Warp x Weft (b): 40 × 32 cm (15 3/4 × 12 5/8 in.) Warp x Weft (c): 17.5 × 40 cm (6 7/8 × 15 3/4 in.) Warp x Weft (d): 6 × 17.5 cm (2 3/8 × 6 7/8 in.) Warp x Weft (e): 76 × 12 cm (29 15/16 × 4 3/4 in.) Warp x Weft (f): 75 × 11.5 cm (29 1/2 × 4 1/2 in.) Warp x Weft (g): 29 × 19.5 cm (11 7/16 × 7 11/16 in.) Warp x Weft (h): 39.5 × 12 cm (15 9/16 × 4 3/4 in.) Warp x Weft (i): 15.5 × 13 cm (6 1/8 × 5 1/8 in.); Bequest of Elinor Merrell; 1995-50-75-a/i

Birds and Flowers, late 1500s. Attributed to Kano Shōei (Japanese, 1519-1592). One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper; image: 155.9 x 339.4 cm (61 3/8 x 133 5/8 in.); overall: 168.5 x 352.2 cm (66 5/16 x 138 11/16 in.); closed: 172.5 x 61 x 11.3 cm (67 15/16 x 24 x 4 7/16 in.); with frame: 171.7 x 355.4 cm (67 5/8 x 139 15/16 in.). Unhurried contemplation of these screens reveals that their appearance differs slightly. Notice the shapes of the rocks and pine trunks. The actual ink lines defining their contours and the many brushstrokes providing textual definition to forms and surfaces show two distinct hands at work in the late 16th-century Kyoto. Both Kano Shei and Kano Mitsunobu were well known throughout the country for their skills. As masters of the Kano academic painting style, they naturally favored Chinese-inspired subject matter, such as birds and flowers, rendered in emphatic ink tonalities and placed within mountainous landscape settings

Sketch sheet with study of a horse under a tree and a man playing on a trumpet under a tree, accompanied by two donkeys. Draughtsman: Leo Gestel. Dating: 1891 - 1941. Measurements: h 217 mm × w 277 mm. Museum: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Beauty (Bijin) in the Snow, c. 1775-1818. Shiba Kōkan (Japanese, 1747-1818). Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk; image: 103 x 40.4 cm (40 9/16 x 15 7/8 in.); overall: 193 x 60 cm (76 x 23 5/8 in.).

Blossoming Prunus dated 1759 Jin Nong Chinese A poet, collector, and bibliophile, Jin Nong did not take up painting until the age of fifty. Known as one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, Jin specialized in painting plum blossoms. He developed a distinctive style of calligraphy through the study of the squat clerical-script form of ancient stele writing.Blossoming Prunus was painted for a high official only five years before Jin's death at age seventy-two. In his inscription, Jin speaks of the good fortune of the plum painters Yang Buzhi (1097-1169) and Ding Yetang (active mid-13th century), whose works gained imperial recognition. Jin then adds, jestingly:"Now I, too, have done a likeness of latticed branches and scattered shadows. How might it also enter the Nine Enclosures of the Forbidden City and be submitted to imperial view?". Blossoming Prunus. Jin Nong (Chinese, 1687-1773). China. dated 1759. Hanging scroll; ink on paper. Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Paintings

Wild Geese, late 1500s-early 1600s. Kano Sanraku (Japanese, 1559-1635). Pair of six-fold screens; ink on paper; overall: 170.2 x 371.8 cm (67 x 146 3/8 in.); painting only: 152 x 359 cm (59 13/16 x 141 5/16 in.). Depictions of geese usually appear as ink paintings in Japan during the 1200s. They later show up in the colorful landscapes of illustrated handscrolls. Such early ink renditions of the birds have long been associated with classical Chinese Zen painting and poetry, which was avidly admired and collected in medieval Japan. In the screens on display, the artist portrayed the waterfowl in a pastoral setting without reference to classical or religious themes. Such ordinary subjects were imbued with special meaning in 14th- and 15th-century Japan through associations with continental culture, Zen thought and poetry, and famous Chinese monk-painters whose painting techniques had become revered as visual emblems of Zen principles. The screens here reflect the continuation of that pa

Moonlit River Landscape with Figures, Guan Xining, c. 1750 - c. 1785 Hanging roll, river landscape with figures in moonlight. Painer: Chineangzhou paper. ink. wood (plant material) Hanging roll, river landscape with figures in moonlight. Painer: Chineangzhou paper. ink. wood (plant material)

Sketches by Nature / Kachō Sansui Zushiki; Part 4. KATSUSHIKA, ISAI (1821 1880)

Mens Stomping Dances 1798 Chōbunsai Eishi 鳥文斎栄之 Japanese. Mens Stomping Dances. Chōbunsai Eishi 鳥文斎栄之 (Japanese, 1756-1829). Japan. 1798. Woodblock printed book; ink and color on paper. Edo period (1615-1868). Illustrated Books

Kaishien gaden = The mustard seed garden painting manual.. Wang, Gai, active 1677-1705. Prints, Illustrations. 1753. Spencer Collection

Crane and Bamboo, from a triptych of Jurōjin and Cranes, 18th-19th century, Spurious signature and seal of Kano Tsunenobu, Japanese, 1636 - 1713, 65 x 14 1/4 in. (165.1 x 36.2 cm) (mount)36 x 12 in. (91.44 x 30.48 cm) (image), Ink on silk, Japan, 18th-19th century

Japan, ink calligraphy from Edo period

Design for a Stage Set. Artist: Eugène Cicéri (French, Paris 1813-1890 Fontainebleau). Date: 1828-90. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

To the light, 1916 book Hard cover with image of a tree, birds and flowers, by seifu; title on the back; pink cover and bract; title page; Mountain lake by night, by Hiromitsu; 1, second title page; 2- 482, text; Last page, Colophon. paper letterpress printing / color woodcut

Waves, late 1700s-early 1800s. Nakamura Hōchū (Japanese, d. 1819). Fan painting mounted as a hanging scroll; ink and color with gold on paper; image: 39.8 x 53 cm (15 11/16 x 20 7/8 in.); overall: 126.4 x 61.3 cm (49 3/4 x 24 1/8 in.). Nakamura Hch painted waves on this handheld fan to bring coolness to the mind of its bearer. While fragile paper fans are often used for a single season, this one was cherished for its design. Someone carefully removed it from its folding apparatus and converted it into a hanging scroll for occasional enjoyment in an alcove.

Fragment textile. Textile fragment, embroidery of wheels and aoi leaves on silk.

Orchids, Album Covers and Pages. Chen Wu (); Chinese. Date: 1832. Dimensions: Each leaf measures: 21.0 × 27.6 cm (8 1/4 × 11 in.)26.4 × 35.0 cm (10 1/4 × 13 in. mount). Album covers, pages 1 and 14, 12 blank sheets. Origin: China. Museum: The Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, USA.

Camellia Flower and Yokan (a sort of bean jelly) Wrapped in Bamboo Skin 1811 Ryūryūkyo Shinsai Japanese. Camellia Flower and Yokan (a sort of bean jelly) Wrapped in Bamboo Skin 54129

Peonies/Seven-Character Quatrain Calligraphy by Rai Sany Japanese Painting by Matsumura Keibun Japanese ca. 1830s A seven-character quatrain is fluently brushed in running-grass script. The elegantly curved strokes were boldly extended in semi-circles, adding dynamism to the characters executed in various ink textures and tones. Some characters and strokes were written with a drier brush, imparting a sense of speed and spontaneity. The inscribed poem in four lines of seven syllables each can be deciphered and translated as follows:As spring arrives on the Luo River, my gate remains shut,And I do not become drunk and lean on balustradesto admire peonies of the houses of Yao and Wei.Rather, on this autumn night,when a lamp lights up half of my study, I prefer to gaze quietly upon these peonies on the frost-white silk.The poem praises the literati preference to painted over live peonies by referring to the old Chinese capital of Luoyang, which was known for spectacular arrays of peonies

Tortures. Watercolours by a Japanese artist.

Mei Cheng Sitting Alone Lu Zhi Chinese. Mei Cheng Sitting Alone 45821

Scholar in Landscape, 1601, Liu Yuanqi, 1555 - after 1632, 131 5/8 x 39 in. (334.33 x 99.06 cm) (image)135 x 60 in. (342.9 x 152.4 cm) (without roller, approximate), Ink on paper, China, 17th century, Liu Yuanqi was a pupil of Qian Gu (1508-78) who, in turn, was a direct disciple of Wen Zhengming (1470-1559), one of the four great masters of the Wu school. Not surprisingly, this painting accords well with sixteenth-century Suzhou literati values and ultimately the late style of Wen Zhengming.

Birds and Flowers of the TwelveMonths. Artist: Yamamoto Soken, Japanese, died 1706

Pictures by Famous Artists (Meika gafu). Artist: Yosa Buson (Japanese, 1716-1783) , et al. Culture: Japan. Dimensions: each: 11 × 7 1/2 in. (28 × 19 cm). Date: 1812, 1814. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Landscape mid-17th century Chen Hongshou Chinese Two gentlemen sit in a waterside pavilion. One has a stack of books by his side; the other holds a fan as they converse. Attendants come and go with wine or tea and a zither (qin), the musical instrument considered most appropriate for use by scholar-amateurs. Although the landscape beyond shows a broad river bounded by distant hills, the scene strongly evokes the atmosphere of a garden, in which strategically placed pavilions served as stage sets for elegant gatherings.. Landscape 49055

Ten Thousand Bamboos in the Mist and Rain, 1847. Tsubaki Chinzan (Japanese, 1801-1854). Album leaf; ink and color on silk; each leaf: 41 x 31.5 cm (16 1/8 x 12 3/8 in.). Japanese painters were frequently influenced by paintings from China and Korea that they saw in private and temple collections throughout the country. Japan has a long history of interest in its continental neighbors.

Mount Horai 1802-1816 Japan. Pair of handscrolls; ink and colors on silk . Kano Isen'in

Flowers: (a) Peach-blossom and Spiritual Stone; (b) Camellia, Narcissus and Buddha's Hand Zhou Cunbo Chinese dated 1870 View more. Flowers: (a) Peach-blossom and Spiritual Stone; (b) Camellia, Narcissus and Buddha's Hand. Zhou Cunbo (Chinese, 1820-1875). China. dated 1870. Pair of hanging scrolls; ink and color on paper. Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Paintings

Knowing the resting on the stream; LAN, Ying (1585-1657); 19th/20th century () (1801-00-00-1900-00-00);Chinese art, MNW collection, painting, scrolls, vertical ganglia

Page from Shi Zhu Zhai China Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Qianlong period (1736-95) View more. Page from Shi Zhu Zhai. China. Polychrome woodblock print; ink and color on paper. Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Qianlong period (1736-95). Prints

Page from Shi Zhu Zhai China. Page from Shi Zhu Zhai. China. Polychrome woodblock print; ink and color on paper. Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Kangxi period (1662-1722). Prints

Examples of Hokusai's Drawing 1818 Katsushika Hokusai Japanese. Examples of Hokusai's Drawing. Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, Tokyo (Edo) 1760-1849 Tokyo (Edo)). Japan. 1818. Ink on paper. Edo period (1615-1868). Illustrated Books

Listening to the Sound of Autumn. Origin: China. Period: Ming dynasty. Date: 15th-16th century. Ink and color on silk. Museum: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

Winter Scene, 960-1279. China, Song dynasty (960-1279). Album leaf, ink on silk; diameter: 24 cm (9 7/16 in.).

Landscape 16th century Maejima Sōyū Japanese On a moonlit night, a small boat carries its passengers toward a thatched lakeside pavilion as a bank of mist rolls through the craggy mountains. The faint traces of two seals on the lower left side of the scroll enable an attribution to Maejima Sōyū, a professional painter active in the castle-town of Odawara in eastern Japan and affiliated with a local branch of the influential Kano school. Sōyū may have studied directly under Kano Motonobu (1476-1559).. Landscape 42342

Textile fragment, embroidery of ears of corn on silk damask., anonymous, Japan, 1658 - 1661, Manji period, silk, height 28 cm × width 14 cm

'JOY: In joy lie the seeds of sufferings; in sufferings lie the seeds of joy. Hakuin Ekaku (Japan, 1685-1768). circa 1760. Drawings; calligraphy. Hanging scroll; ink on paper

Couplet from a Poem by Han Hong 1261 Emperor Lizong Chinese The confidence and boldness displayed by the large characters of this fan epitomize Lizong's late style. Written when the emperor was fifty-six years old, the fan is his latest extant dated work.The couplet, from a poem entitled "Farewell to Yuan Shen on His Return to Jiangdong" by Han Hong (act. ca. 766-80), a well-known Tang dynasty poet, brings to mind the scenery around the Southern Song capital:The sounds of the tide rise at noon;The greens of the mountains are deepest in the south.. Couplet from a Poem by Han Hong 40194

Fragment textile. Textile fragment, embroidery and shibori zome on light brown silk fond.

Willow and Waterfall, 1847. Tsubaki Chinzan (Japanese, 1801-1854). Album leaf; ink and color on silk; each leaf: 41 x 31.5 cm (16 1/8 x 12 3/8 in.). Japanese painters were frequently influenced by paintings from China and Korea that they saw in private and temple collections throughout the country. Japan has a long history of interest in its continental neighbors.

Letter Tanomura Chokuny Japanese mid- to late 19th century This letter was brushed by Nanga painter Tanomura Chokuny, a pupil and adopted son of Tanomura Chikuden (1777-1835), arguably the most important Nanga painter of the early nineteenth century. Chokuny carried on his fathers legacy by helping establish Kyotos first art school, now known as the Kyoto City University of Arts (Kyoto Shiritsu Geijutsu Daigaku). He himself was a highly skilled painter in the Nanga tradition, specializing in landscapes executed in styles associated with great Chinese painters of the past.This letter is addressed to Murase Gyokuden (1852-1917), a student and adopted son of popular Kyoto painter Murase Sseki (1822-1877). Gyokuden was known for both flower-and-bird subjects and landscapes and produced commissioned works for the imperial family. In the middle of the letter, Chokuny playfully drew three Matsutake mushrooms. On another letter from Chokuny to Gyokuden, he painted three chestnuts (published

Nichinichisou or Madagascar periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus. Handcoloured woodblock print by Kono Bairei from Senshu no Hana (One Thousand Varieties of Flowers), Bunkyudo, Kyoto, 1900.

Dragon Boat Festival. Wen, Jia (1501-1583), painter

Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, first half 16th century, Seikō, Japanese, act. first half of 16th century, 12 1/4 × 21 1/8 in. (31.12 × 53.66 cm) (image)43 3/4 × 25 7/8 in. (111.13 × 65.72 cm) (mount, without roller ), Ink on paper, Japan, 16th century, This painting depicts seven scholars from third-century China gathered near a mountain stream and grove of bamboo. Four scholars chat at right while three at left admire a waterfall. Artists began creating images of the so-called 'Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove' as early as the fourth century in China and by the ninth century in Japan.

Birds and flowers in a landscape. Date/Period: 1575. Folding Screens. Ink and pigments on paper ink and pigments on paper. Height: 1,556 mm (61.25 in); Width: 3,570 mm (11.71 ft). Author: Hagetsu Tosatsu.

Emon Hill, from the series The Appearance of Yoshiwara (Yoshiwara no tei) 1676-1689 Japan. Woodblock print; oban, sumizuri-e . Hishikawa Moronobu

Reverberations of Taiga, Volume 1 (leaf 26), mid- to late 1700s. Aoki Shukuya (Japanese, d. 1802). Pair of albums; ink, or ink and light color on paper; album, closed: 28.3 x 33 cm (11 1/8 x 13 in.). Traditionally, young painters in Japan began their studies with an established master-painter. The master's compositions invariably became models that the apprentice copied to learn various ink and brush techniques. Shukuya was a pupil of the famous Kyoto artist Ikeno Taiga, whose style is reflected in these sketches of rocks, trees, and mountains.

Lacquer Paintings of Various Subjects: Grasshopper on Gourd Vine. Artist: Shibata Zeshin (Japanese, 1807-1891). Culture: Japan. Dimensions: 7 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. (19.1 x 16.5 cm). Date: 1882.The strong color effect seen in this album is achieved by using lacquer as a painting medium. Painting with lacquer on paper was one of the techniques Zeshin developed into his own style. Despite the heavy material, Zeshin's skillful brushwork and his technical inventions with the material made it possible to create various textures as with ink painting. In addition, some lacquer techniques, like mother-of-pearl inlays and the creation of rough surfaces, are also used. Up until the middle of the Meiji period, lacquer was limited to roughly five colors--black, brown, vermillion, green, and yellow--which determined the color palette of Zeshin's lacquer paintings. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Sketch for a Painting of Scholars at the Game of Go dated 1666 Kano artist after Kano Tan'yū Japanese Kano Tan'yū, the founder of the phenomenally successful Edo branch of the Kano school of painting, which continued to hold hegemony over all the artists throughout the Edo period, was in constant demand for his connoisseurship of Chinese and Japanese paintings of the past. In his later years, Tan'yū studiously made copies of the paintings that were brought to him for his judgment. The copies (shukuzu, or "reduced pictures") are indispensable records of the works still extant during his time. Symbolizing Confucian ideals, two gentlemen are engaged in a game of go, one of the Four Gentlemanly Accomplishments, while two observers are in conversation. Three other accomplishments required of learned gentlemen are music, painting, and calligraphy.Tan'yū signed his title hōin and his age as sixty-five.. Sketch for a Painting of Scholars at the Game of Go 56098

Evening Glow in a Mountain Village and Calligraphy. Artist: Ike Taiga (Japanese, 1723-1776). Calligrapher: Rokunyo (Japanese, 1737-1801). Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image (each): 9 × 14 5/8 in. (22.9 × 37.1 cm)Overall with mounting (each): 39 1/4 × 21 1/2 in. (99.7 × 54.6 cm). Date: late 18th-early 19th century.These works are part of a set of nine hanging scrolls and an album that includes four paintings by Ike Taiga along with thirteen colophons and poems. Taiga originally made the four paintings as small sliding-door panels (kobusuma). Some time after Taiga's death, the four panels were removed from their frames and mounted as leaves of an album. In the album, also displayed here, the paintings were paired with poems brushed by several well-known calligraphers, including Minagawa Kien (1734-1807), Kameda Bosai (1752-1826), and nine others. In the mid-twentieth century, Taiga's four paintings and five of the colophons were removed from the album and remounted as hanging scrolls.

Page from Shi Zhu Zhai China. Page from Shi Zhu Zhai. China. Polychrome woodblock print; ink and color on paper. Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Kangxi period (1662-1722). Prints

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