Cranes at Play under Pines

1830

Japanese, 1777-1835

One of Japan's most important literati artists, Chikuden favored subjects strongly influenced by his study of contemporary Ming Chinese painting. Chikuden's skillful rendering of the crane and pine, a pervasive motif in Japanese art, has a distinctly Chinese flavor, emphasized by the narrow format and rising ground plane. The addition of the red sun, a feature not typically seen in Japanese landscape paintings, links this scene with the fabled Mount Horai, the island of immortality located off the coast of China. Home to the transcendent Immortals (who can be seen cavorting on the jade vessel also in this gallery,) Mount Horai is associated with many auspicious emblems, including the pine and the crane.

Ink and color on paper

49 9/16 x 12 3/16 in. (125.9 x 30.9 cm)

Overall h.: 78 1/4 in.

Overall w.: 18 1/16 in.

Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund

74.20

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, "Live Long and Prosper: Auspicious Motifs in East Asian Art", May 23, 2009 - February 21, 2010

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "A Thousand Years of Beauty: Japanese Art in Seattle", July 16, 2001 - November 17, 2002

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "A Thousand Cranes: Treasures of Japanese Art", February 5 - July 12, 1987 (02/05/1987 - 07/12/1987)

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