Accession Number
1961/1.166

Title
Twenty Fruit and Flower Studies

Artist(s)
Matsumura Keibun

Object Creation Date
1st half of the 19th century

Medium & Support
handscroll, ink and color on paper

Dimensions
11 3/8 in x 315 3/4 in (28.9 cm x 802 cm)

Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund

Subject matter
"The primary method of instruction in painting was for the teacher to paint models. often no more than simple sketches.for the student to copy. This scroll with its great variety of subjects is probably such a scroll which Seiki may have given to one of his many pupils. The topics range from flowers and birds. to a seated Hotei and moonlit hillside. They are executed with such quick brushwork and slight color that the entire scroll could have been completed at a single sitting. Some of the compositions can be found in more elaborate form among his many extant hanging scroll paintings."
"The Shijo school as a whole and Keibun's work in particular seeks to achieve lucid. graceful beauty. It does not demand from the viewer the poetic or philosophical depth that is often necessary for a full appreciation of Nanga. Because of their immediate appeal. Keibun's paintings have enjoyed continued popularity in Japan. It was the Shijo school emphasis on color, form, and lightness of mood that established a foundation for the development of Nihon-ga in the Meiji period (1868-1912)and the 20th century. This handscroll exhibits the graceful transmission of the Shijo tradition from teacher to disciple."

Adams, Celeste, and Paul Berry. Heart, Mountains, and Human Ways: Japanese Landscape and Figure Painting: a Loan Exhibition from the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Museum of Fine Arts, 1983.

 

Physical Description
On this handscroll, we see topis that alternate between plants, fish, birds, a moonlit hillside, a seated Hotei, and "a man seated before a large flower pot containing a profusion of lotus leaves. His cap indicates that he is probably a Confucian scholar who is relaxing on a summer day." 
"They are executed with such quick brushwork and slight color that the entire scroll could have been completed at a single sitting."

Adams, Celeste, and Paul Berry. Heart, Mountains, and Human Ways: Japanese Landscape and Figure Painting: a Loan Exhibition from the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Museum of Fine Arts, 1983.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
handscroll

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
Japan
birds (motifs)
fish (animals)
flower (motif)
flowers
fruit
fruit (plant components)
handscrolls
ink
male
still lifes