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Part of: San Francisco Asian Art Museum UMMA Tour (10 resources )
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San Francisco Asian Art Museum UMMA Tour

Copyright
All Rights Reserved
Created by
Robert Jerome Morrissey
Last Updated
September 24, 2022 12:40 p.m.

10 Items in this Learning Collection
Peach Blossom Spring
In this fan painting mounted as an album leaf, a fishing boat is moored at shore. Water stretches to the right, and above it calligraphic text recounting the story of Peach Blossom Spring. To the left of the boat, are green riverbanks, blossoming peach trees, and a man in a small cave.
Collection Object
Returning Herder and Water Buffalo, After Rain
An ink image painted on silk, depicting a buffalo and herd boy standing on the grassy ground on the bottom right. There is a house further back behind among several trees. The bottom and left section is water and most of the top space is left blank.
Collection Object
Bowl with tenmoku glaze and floral roundels
Shallow bowl with unglazed foot. Body of the bowl is decorated with a brown glaze, with circular area on interior of bowl areas where wax resist was applied and tan shows through. In these circles are painted brown stylized floral designs.
Collection Object
Ceramic Sculpture
It is a long, rectangular unglazed ceramic piece, intended to be shown in horizontal position. Two thick slabs are connected with bridges inside. The front part has almost flat surface; there is a deep cut on the left side, in which mass of worm-like inner surface can be seen. The same surface is revealed in the middle, as well as on the right edge. The top of the slab has a several shallow holes and one deep cut, inside of which has worm-like surface, as explained above. There is also a dent on the top and on the right, from which worm-like mass seems to be coming out. Reddish shadows cast on left side, in the middle, and the right. There is a patch of clay on left side near the left cut. The bottom is flat.
Collection Object
White celadon bowl with incised diamond pattern
The large white bowl is round with a wide rim and a narrow bottom; almost like an up-side-down cone shape. Diamond patterns are stamped around the middle of the body. It has no foot. The rim is slightly warped.
Collection Object
Winter Rider
The &quot;painting&nbsp;richly&nbsp;evokes&nbsp;a&nbsp;darkly&nbsp;overcast&nbsp;day&nbsp;with&nbsp;a&nbsp;rider wearing&nbsp;a&nbsp;straw&nbsp;raincoat&nbsp;accompanied&nbsp;by&nbsp;a&nbsp;man&nbsp;on&nbsp;foot carrying&nbsp;luggage.&nbsp;The&nbsp;horse&nbsp;seems&nbsp;delighted&nbsp;as&nbsp;its&nbsp;hooves sink &nbsp;into&nbsp;the&nbsp;thick&nbsp;snow&nbsp;on&nbsp;the&nbsp;path.&nbsp;Large&nbsp;daubs&nbsp;of&nbsp;white&nbsp;pigment&nbsp;are&nbsp;used&nbsp;to&nbsp;represent&nbsp;the&nbsp;falling&nbsp;snow&nbsp;called&nbsp;<em>botan</em><em> </em><em>yuki&quot;</em><br /> <br /> <b id="docs-internal-guid-ecb68b88-7fff-cddd-9168-660eb3400d03">Adams, Celeste, and Paul Berry. <em>Heart, Mountains, and Human Ways: Japanese Landscape and Figure Painting: a Loan Exhibition from the University of Michigan Museum of Art.</em> Museum of Fine Arts, 1983.</b><br /> &nbsp;
Collection Object
Courtesan in procession
This is a portrait of courtesan and her attendant. The courtesan wears a kimono with overall cherry blossom patterns and a darker color cloak with fan, plover and wave design lining with overall cherry blossom design silk; the cloak is slipping from her right shoulder. Her obi is draped in front; it has overall hollyhock pattern. Her face is white; Her hair is sculpted like a balloon on the top and has broad wings to the side. Tortoise-shell comb and multiple hairpins adorn the hair. She is strolling toward the right. Her attendant is walking behind her, her face and body partially hidden by the courtesan. She wears the matching kimono with plover and wave design; her kimono has long sleeves (furisode), whose openings are tied with ribbons. Her obi, with peony and geometric design, is tied at the back. Her hair is in the similar shape as the courtesan but not too exaggerated. But she wears an enormous hair accessory consisting of cherry blossoms and tassels, made of silver. Her face is also in white. The pain
Collection Object
Monkey Seated on a Wisteria Branch
&quot;Rosetsu uses the wisteria tree to frame the painting and to create two separate planes, the foreground and the background. While doing this, he does not paint a very prominent background, thus making the foreground landscape more important and the focal point of the painting...The sinewy shape of the wisteria dominates the painting. There appear to be two separate trunks rooted to a small sliver of land pictured at the left side of the image. These trunks merge into one stem, forming a curve that snugly holds the monkey&rsquo;s body. The branch continues upward, disappearing at one point until it reappears, winding around the right side of the painting. Rosetsu uses a dark ink to create the trunk and branches of the wisteria, and there does not appear to be any indication of shading or altering the color to appear lighter. This darkening is especially noticeable compared to the stark, white flowers at the top of the painting. Their stems are soft and wispy, as if they are floating in the air.&quot;<br /
Collection Object
Plum Blossoms and Bird
A black crow is seated on a plum branch above calligraphic text and cascades of open blossoms.
Collection Object
A Picture of the Mountain Dwelling
A small thatched hut is nestled in the side of a mountain, above baren trees. Text is written in the upper left corner.
Collection Object
10 Items in this Learning Collection
Peach Blossom Spring
In this fan painting mounted as an album leaf, a fishing boat is moored at shore. Water stretches to the right, and above it calligraphic text recounting the story of Peach Blossom Spring. To the left of the boat, are green riverbanks, blossoming peach trees, and a man in a small cave.
Collection Object
Returning Herder and Water Buffalo, After Rain
An ink image painted on silk, depicting a buffalo and herd boy standing on the grassy ground on the bottom right. There is a house further back behind among several trees. The bottom and left section is water and most of the top space is left blank.
Collection Object
Bowl with tenmoku glaze and floral roundels
Shallow bowl with unglazed foot. Body of the bowl is decorated with a brown glaze, with circular area on interior of bowl areas where wax resist was applied and tan shows through. In these circles are painted brown stylized floral designs.
Collection Object
Ceramic Sculpture
It is a long, rectangular unglazed ceramic piece, intended to be shown in horizontal position. Two thick slabs are connected with bridges inside. The front part has almost flat surface; there is a deep cut on the left side, in which mass of worm-like inner surface can be seen. The same surface is revealed in the middle, as well as on the right edge. The top of the slab has a several shallow holes and one deep cut, inside of which has worm-like surface, as explained above. There is also a dent on the top and on the right, from which worm-like mass seems to be coming out. Reddish shadows cast on left side, in the middle, and the right. There is a patch of clay on left side near the left cut. The bottom is flat.
Collection Object
White celadon bowl with incised diamond pattern
The large white bowl is round with a wide rim and a narrow bottom; almost like an up-side-down cone shape. Diamond patterns are stamped around the middle of the body. It has no foot. The rim is slightly warped.
Collection Object
Winter Rider
The &quot;painting&nbsp;richly&nbsp;evokes&nbsp;a&nbsp;darkly&nbsp;overcast&nbsp;day&nbsp;with&nbsp;a&nbsp;rider wearing&nbsp;a&nbsp;straw&nbsp;raincoat&nbsp;accompanied&nbsp;by&nbsp;a&nbsp;man&nbsp;on&nbsp;foot carrying&nbsp;luggage.&nbsp;The&nbsp;horse&nbsp;seems&nbsp;delighted&nbsp;as&nbsp;its&nbsp;hooves sink &nbsp;into&nbsp;the&nbsp;thick&nbsp;snow&nbsp;on&nbsp;the&nbsp;path.&nbsp;Large&nbsp;daubs&nbsp;of&nbsp;white&nbsp;pigment&nbsp;are&nbsp;used&nbsp;to&nbsp;represent&nbsp;the&nbsp;falling&nbsp;snow&nbsp;called&nbsp;<em>botan</em><em> </em><em>yuki&quot;</em><br /> <br /> <b id="docs-internal-guid-ecb68b88-7fff-cddd-9168-660eb3400d03">Adams, Celeste, and Paul Berry. <em>Heart, Mountains, and Human Ways: Japanese Landscape and Figure Painting: a Loan Exhibition from the University of Michigan Museum of Art.</em> Museum of Fine Arts, 1983.</b><br /> &nbsp;
Collection Object
Courtesan in procession
This is a portrait of courtesan and her attendant. The courtesan wears a kimono with overall cherry blossom patterns and a darker color cloak with fan, plover and wave design lining with overall cherry blossom design silk; the cloak is slipping from her right shoulder. Her obi is draped in front; it has overall hollyhock pattern. Her face is white; Her hair is sculpted like a balloon on the top and has broad wings to the side. Tortoise-shell comb and multiple hairpins adorn the hair. She is strolling toward the right. Her attendant is walking behind her, her face and body partially hidden by the courtesan. She wears the matching kimono with plover and wave design; her kimono has long sleeves (furisode), whose openings are tied with ribbons. Her obi, with peony and geometric design, is tied at the back. Her hair is in the similar shape as the courtesan but not too exaggerated. But she wears an enormous hair accessory consisting of cherry blossoms and tassels, made of silver. Her face is also in white. The pain
Collection Object
Monkey Seated on a Wisteria Branch
&quot;Rosetsu uses the wisteria tree to frame the painting and to create two separate planes, the foreground and the background. While doing this, he does not paint a very prominent background, thus making the foreground landscape more important and the focal point of the painting...The sinewy shape of the wisteria dominates the painting. There appear to be two separate trunks rooted to a small sliver of land pictured at the left side of the image. These trunks merge into one stem, forming a curve that snugly holds the monkey&rsquo;s body. The branch continues upward, disappearing at one point until it reappears, winding around the right side of the painting. Rosetsu uses a dark ink to create the trunk and branches of the wisteria, and there does not appear to be any indication of shading or altering the color to appear lighter. This darkening is especially noticeable compared to the stark, white flowers at the top of the painting. Their stems are soft and wispy, as if they are floating in the air.&quot;<br /
Collection Object
Plum Blossoms and Bird
A black crow is seated on a plum branch above calligraphic text and cascades of open blossoms.
Collection Object
A Picture of the Mountain Dwelling
A small thatched hut is nestled in the side of a mountain, above baren trees. Text is written in the upper left corner.
Collection Object

Copyright
All Rights Reserved ()

Returning Herder and Water Buffalo, After Rain

Accession Number
1965/2.70

Title
Returning Herder and Water Buffalo, After Rain

Artist(s)
Chinese

Artist Nationality
Chinese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
13th century

Medium & Support
ink on silk

Dimensions
8 13/16 in x 9 1/2 in (22.38 cm x 24.13 cm)

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

Label copy
Returning Herder and Water Buffalo, After Rain
China, Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279)
13th century
Album leaf mounted as hanging scroll, ink on silk
Museum purchase made possible by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection
Fund, 1965/2.70

The ability to capture a moment with precise naturalism is characteristic of the professional painters traditionally associated with the imperial academy in the Southern Song dynasty. Although the buffalo and the herd boy in this work are small, aspects of their anatomy are well defined, and both the fallen reeds and fluttering tree tops enhance the vivid impression of an evening storm. The sense of returning is subtly evoked by the suggestion of a female figure waiting in the doorway.

An inscription on the lacquer box that houses this painting mistakenly attributes it to the great twelfth-century painter Li Tang (circa 1070–circa 1150). The painting traveled to Japan as early as the late fifteenth century, where it entered the collection of Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1435–90), the eighth shogun (military ruler) in the Ashikaga clan. The attribution may have been made by one of Yoshimasa's art advisors, based on an imperfect knowledge of Li Tang’s work and a desire to improve the pedigree of an unsigned painting.

Subject matter
The image suggests a herd boy returning to his house after an evening storm. Although the buffalo and the herd boy in this work are small, aspects of their anatomy are well defined, and both the fallen reeds and fluttering tree tops enhance the vivid impression of an evening storm. The sense of returning is subtly evoked by the suggestion of a female figure waiting in the doorway.

Physical Description
An ink image painted on silk, depicting a buffalo and herd boy standing on the grassy ground on the bottom right. There is a house further back behind among several trees. The bottom and left section is water and most of the top space is left blank.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Primary Object Type
hanging scroll

Additional Object Classification(s)
Painting

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
Landscapes
Southern Song
bodies of water (natural)
buffalo
buffaloes
landscapes (representations)
rain
shepherds
trees
water

6 Related Resources
Ink and Realisms
(Part of: Artist Associations and Art Movements)
Ink and Realisms in China before 1800
(Part of: Artist Associations and Art Movements)
Landscape and Nature, Comparative and Historical
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
Silk
(Part of: Exchange and Influence on Global Trade Routes)

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