Landscape with Gentle Peaks (possibly 1800s): Art, History and Details

Landscape with Gentle Peaks (possibly 1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Kan Tenju (Japanese, 1727–1795).

The work and its context

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

A figure sits in a retreat tucked into the mountains near a waterfall. Kan Tenju was best known as a calligrapher and seal carver. Of Korean heritage, he was a patron of artist Ike Taiga (池大雅) (1723–1776), and a cousin of Taiga’s student Aoki Shukuya (青木 夙夜) (died 1802). The Chinese-style poem reads as follows: Smoky mist in the mountain reflects light after the rain, Sunlight passes through the clouds to cast shadows of the trees, Alone in the sunset, I read a well-worn book.

Object facts

• Title: Landscape with Gentle Peaks
• Date: possibly 1800s
• Creator attribution: Kan Tenju (Japanese, 1727–1795)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper
• Dimensions: Painting: 133.2 x 45.2 cm (52 7/16 x 17 13/16 in.); Mounted: 216 x 67.7 cm (85 1/16 x 26 5/8 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1978.7

A detail from the museum

While the styles of the calligraphy and painting in this work do not align with those in pieces by Kan Tenju, its creation was likely precipitated by the strong interest in the artist during the 19th century.

Collection credit

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1978.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 66, no. 1 (January 1979): 3–48.
• Talbot, William S. “Visions of Landscape: East and West.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 3 (March 1983): 112–135.

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.