Fish in Summer and Autumn
Eight young sweetfish (ayu) swim upstream past a mossy rock and pink spring azaleas in the right- hand scroll of this diptych. Spring and summer have come and gone in the left-hand scroll, indicated by the crimson leaves of a maple tree. Here, three more sweetfish, fully grown, head back downstream toward the coast to begin the cycle anew.
Ōkyo moved to Kyoto from neighboring Harima while still in his teens and became one of the capital’s most popular painters. Having studied traditional Chinese and Japanese painting as well as the linear perspective of Western realism, Ōkyo is said to have trained as many as one thousand students in his Kyoto studio. In the lower left of the left-hand scroll, Ōkyo signed and dated his painting 1785— the pinnacle of his prolific career.
Ōkyo moved to Kyoto from neighboring Harima while still in his teens and became one of the capital’s most popular painters. Having studied traditional Chinese and Japanese painting as well as the linear perspective of Western realism, Ōkyo is said to have trained as many as one thousand students in his Kyoto studio. In the lower left of the left-hand scroll, Ōkyo signed and dated his painting 1785— the pinnacle of his prolific career.
Artwork Details
- 円山応挙筆 春秋遊魚図
- Title: Fish in Summer and Autumn
- Artist: Maruyama Ōkyo (Japanese, 1733–1795)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: 1785
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Pair of hanging scrolls; ink, gold, and color on silk
- Dimensions: Image (a): 40 15/16 × 14 9/16 in. (104 × 37 cm)
Overall with mounting (a): 75 3/8 × 20 1/4 in. (191.5 × 51.5 cm)
Overall with knobs (a): 75 3/8 × 22 5/8 in. (191.5 × 57.4 cm)
Image (b): 40 15/16 × 14 1/2 in. (104 × 36.8 cm)
Overall with mounting (b): 75 3/16 × 20 1/4 in. (191 × 51.5 cm)
Overall with knobs (b): 75 3/16 × 22 9/16 in. (191 × 57.3 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.300.198a, b
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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