Calligraphy with Willow and Swallows (1400s): Art, History and Details

Calligraphy with Willow and Swallows (1400s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Ikkyū Sōjun (Japanese, 1394–1481).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The famed Buddhist monk Ikkyū is best remembered for his calligraphy. Calligraphic conventions of his time called for brushwork that did not vary much in style from character to character. However, as Ikkyū’s lines progress, his brushwork wanders between standard script and a sort of shorthand, marked by an uneven distribution of ink and a reduction of the characters to only the most necessary strokes. Ikkyū’s direct communication of emotion via brushwork became characteristic of the works produced by monks affiliated with the temple Daitokuji later in the Edo period (1615–1868).

Object facts

• Title: Calligraphy with Willow and Swallows
• Date: 1400s
• Creator attribution: Ikkyū Sōjun (Japanese, 1394–1481)
• Culture: Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll, ink on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 104 x 34.8 cm (40 15/16 x 13 11/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 2015.463

Collection credit

Gift from the Collection of George Gund III

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cunningham, Michael R., Shinʼichi Miyajima, and Yūji Yamashita. Ink Paintings and Ash-Glazed Ceramics: Medieval Calligraphy, Painting, and Ceramic Art from Japan and Korea. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.
• Longhi, Leighton R. Leighton R. Longhi: Forty-Five Years in Asian Art. [New York, N.Y.]: Leighton R. Longhi, 2019.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.