Grapes (1800s): Art, History and Details

Grapes (1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Sugai Baikan (Japanese, 1784–1844).

The work and its context

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

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 Tōhoku, 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.

Object facts

• Title: Grapes
• Date: 1800s
• Creator attribution: Sugai Baikan (Japanese, 1784–1844)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper
• Dimensions: 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.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1985.247

A detail from the museum

The grapes hanging from this twisting vine are washed with a light blue color.

Collection credit

The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith

Further reading listed by the museum

• “Checklist of the Kelvin Smith Bequest.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 7 (September 1988): 292–295.

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.