Images(2)

Two Cranes Standing

Datelate 18th century

Maker Ito Jakuchu Japanese, 1716 - 1800

Label TextRecognized as one of the most innovative and visionary painters of his day, Jakuchū created works that ranged from colorful and meticulously detailed paintings of birds and flowers on silk to bold ink paintings like this one drawn from classical Chinese painting. Born into a family of wholesale greengrocers in Nishiki-kōji, a food market in central Kyoto, Jakuchū received a traditional painter’s training in old Chinese and Japanese paintings but also closely investigated the forms, textures, and movement of vegetables, birds, marine life, and plants. Also a devoted lay practitioner of Zen Buddhism, he counted Daiten Kenjō (1719–1801), a Zen luminary and abbot of the powerful monastery Shōkokuji in Kyoto, as a close friend and frequent artistic collaborator.

Object number61.180

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Deities & Demons: Supernatural in Japanese Art, October 20, 2022 – May 18, 2025 (on view December 7, 2024 – May 18, 2025).

Credit LineGift of friends in memory of Grant I. Butterbaugh

DimensionsOverall (incl. mounting, endknobs, hanging braid): 82 5/16 × 25 in. (209 × 63.5 cm) Image: 45 1/4 × 17 15/16 in. (115 × 45.5 cm)

MediumHanging scroll; ink on paper