Mountain View and Blue Water (early 1800s): Art, History and Details

Mountain View and Blue Water (early 1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Tanomura Chikuden (Japanese, 1777–1835).

The work and its context

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

Tanomura Chikuden was an eminent painter whose adopted son, Tanomura Chokunyū (1814–1907), was Seifū Yohei III’s painting teacher. This work was displayed at a gathering commemorating the 10th anniversary of Chokunyū’s death, something we know only because its custom-made box and archival documents have been carefully kept together. The box inscription also confirms that Chikuden was emulating the style of the Mi family of painters, active during China’s Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). The painting’s Chinese-style silk wrapper is inscribed and sealed on its interior by members of Chokunyū’s community.

Object facts

• Title: Mountain View and Blue Water
• Date: early 1800s
• Creator attribution: Tanomura Chikuden (Japanese, 1777–1835)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Painting: 174.9 x 46.8 cm (68 7/8 x 18 7/16 in.); Mounted: 217.5 x 61.5 cm (85 5/8 x 24 3/16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1985.250

A detail from the museum

The mountain shapes are built up with multiple small wet strokes.

Collection credit

The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith

Further reading listed by the museum

• Kokka 國華 plates, JPVII, (1918) vol. 28. pl. 7. no. 332.
• Okada Saburōsuke 岡田三郎助, Rinpū Sasagawa 笹川臨風, and Yoneame Iizuka 飯塚米雨,. Nihonga taisei 日本畫大成. Tōkyō: Tōhō Shoin 東方書院, 1931–34.
• Nanga Meisaku-Ten: Nippon No Bunjinga 南画名作展日本の文人画. Tokyo: Nippon keizai shim-bun, 1971.

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.