Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum

A catalogue of the Ashmolean's collection of Japanese paintings by Janice Katz (published Oxford, 2003).

Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum by Janice Katz

Publications online: 43 objects

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Plum blossoms in snow

  • Literature notes

    Imei was a monk at the famous Shōkokuji temple (Kōgen'in subtemple) in Kyoto, known historically as a breeding ground for ink painters such as Shūbun and Sesshū prior to the Edo period. In the eighteenth century, the painter Itō Jakuchū was a lay Buddhist monk associated with the temple He became one of the most gifted artists of his time who experimented with a variety of painting styles as well as printing techniques, and kept up his association with the temple throughout his career. Imei met Jakuchū at Shōkokuji and learned his method of painting plum blossoms. The Ashmolean is fortunate to have a fan painting that so clearly expresses the artist's debt to his teacher.

    Imei has painted a simple composition of a single branch of plum blossoms that occupies the right side of the fan and extends out to into the blank area on the left. The blossoms and the snow take on the colour of the paper. Imei has carved out their shapes by covering the background with a light ink wash and using lines of darker ink for the ares of the branch or flowers that peek out from underneath the snow. It is a simple yet effective device for picturing a complex image of white snow on a white flower. This manner of painting plum blossoms was made famous by the Chinese Ming dynasty painter Liu Shiru (1517-after 1601), known to artists in Japan. The method of painting in which the colour of the paper is used like a pigment in the composition, while the background is filled with light ink wash was particularly taken up by Imei's teacher Jakuchū in paintings which date from 1790-92.
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    AsiaJapanHonshūKyōto prefecture Kyoto (possible place of creation)
    Date
    late 18th century
    Artist/maker
    Imei (1730 - 1808) (artist)
    Material and technique
    ink on paper
    Dimensions
    mount 40.5 x 55.5 cm (height x width)
    painting 24 x 52.5 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased with the assistance the Higher Studies Fund, the Victoria and Albert Museum Fund, and with donations from the friends of P. C. Swann, 1966.
    Accession no.
    EA1966.110
  • Further reading

    Katz, Janice, Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, with an introductory essay by Oliver Impey (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2003), no. 3 on p. 46, illus. pp. 37 & 46-47

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum by Janice Katz

    Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum

    Imei was a monk at the famous Shōkokuji temple (Kōgen'in subtemple) in Kyoto, known historically as a breeding ground for ink painters such as Shūbun and Sesshū prior to the Edo period. In the eighteenth century, the painter Itō Jakuchū was a lay Buddhist monk associated with the temple He became one of the most gifted artists of his time who experimented with a variety of painting styles as well as printing techniques, and kept up his association with the temple throughout his career. Imei met Jakuchū at Shōkokuji and learned his method of painting plum blossoms. The Ashmolean is fortunate to have a fan painting that so clearly expresses the artist's debt to his teacher.

    Imei has painted a simple composition of a single branch of plum blossoms that occupies the right side of the fan and extends out to into the blank area on the left. The blossoms and the snow take on the colour of the paper. Imei has carved out their shapes by covering the background with a light ink wash and using lines of darker ink for the ares of the branch or flowers that peek out from underneath the snow. It is a simple yet effective device for picturing a complex image of white snow on a white flower. This manner of painting plum blossoms was made famous by the Chinese Ming dynasty painter Liu Shiru (1517-after 1601), known to artists in Japan. The method of painting in which the colour of the paper is used like a pigment in the composition, while the background is filled with light ink wash was particularly taken up by Imei's teacher Jakuchū in paintings which date from 1790-92.
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Object information may not accurately reflect the actual contents of the original publication, since our online objects contain current information held in our collections database. Click on 'buy this publication' to purchase printed versions of our online publications, where available, or contact the Jameel Study Centre to arrange access to books on our collections that are now out of print.

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