"The present painting, Scholar Viewing a Waterfall from a Bridge is one of a pair of his landscape paintings. The paintngs' box bears an inscription by Murata Kokoku (1830-1912), an important Meiji period Nanga painter, dated 1885 which indicates that they were a set at that time. The other landscape is signed and dated by Hankoto the spring of 1838, while the present landscape has three seals of Hanko's but no signature. The inscription was written by Kaneko Sesso (1794-1857). a long-time friend of Hanko's in Osaka, who was an accomplished Nanga painter himself. Sesso's inscription is dated to 1855, nine years after Hanko's death.
This evidence suggests that these landscapes were originally meant to be a pair, thus eliminating the necessity of signing both paintings. Years later when his friend, Sesso, viewed the painting, he found ample space to include along inscription in honor of Hanko's skill as a painter. The inscription reads as follows:
Master Tung Hsuan-chai said: "In painting mountains and clouds, it is not necessary to wash in or to outline. They are better painted in such a way that they appear like steam floating up and down in the air. Then one may say that they have a life rhythm." However, do not press your brush too heavily or the ink will be clumsy and airless. Also, it is better to use both a wet and dry brush, alternately, only then can it be said to have no defects.
The first section of the inscription is a quote from the famous Ming literati. Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (1555-1636). It appears in almost the same form near the beginning of his book. Hua Chih The second half may be another quotation. or it may be Sesso's own supplementary advice. Sesso's inscription seems to be indirect praise of Hanko's painting technique as seen in this work. Hanko is here using the ink dot method ascribed to Mi Fu (1052-1107). The forms are built up using dots and strokes with very little use of outlines and washes. The very wet brushwork is mixed with drier strokes in some areas. Hanko has achieved a very light, transparent atmosphere in this painting that is much like, "steam floating up and down in the air.""
"Hanko worked in this Mi style of painting throughout his life and the seals near the mountain temple appear on his later paintings and reinforce the dating of this work to1838. The seal in the lower left corner was one of several seals inherited from Beisanjin that Hanko used on his paintings. That seal can be translated as the, "place of transcendental solitude," which harmonizes well with the mood of this landscape."
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.
