Window onto Bamboo on a Rainy Day
Bamboo was a favored theme of Nanga artists, who were largely based in Kyoto and often had backgrounds in Confucian studies and Chinese literati theory. Nankai was the son of a physician and clan official in Wakayama Prefecture. He studied literature and Confucianism in Edo (present-day Tokyo), but belonged to the first generation of influential Nanga painters. His earliest dated painting (1719) was of bamboo, and he produced a number of studies on the same subject.
In this depiction, the artist precisely brushed leaves and jointed stalks in varying tones to evoke a rain-soaked atmosphere and dotted ink on the nearby rock for moss. His handling reflects brushwork in woodcut-illustrated Chinese painting manuals, such as the early eighteenth-century Mustard-Seed Garden Manual, that were newly available to Japanese artists. In the Chinese tradition, the strength and flexibility of bamboo are likened to the spirit of the gentleman-scholar who bends but does not break under adversity.
In this depiction, the artist precisely brushed leaves and jointed stalks in varying tones to evoke a rain-soaked atmosphere and dotted ink on the nearby rock for moss. His handling reflects brushwork in woodcut-illustrated Chinese painting manuals, such as the early eighteenth-century Mustard-Seed Garden Manual, that were newly available to Japanese artists. In the Chinese tradition, the strength and flexibility of bamboo are likened to the spirit of the gentleman-scholar who bends but does not break under adversity.
Artwork Details
- 祇園南海筆 「竹窗雨日」図
- Title: Window onto Bamboo on a Rainy Day
- Artist: Gion Nankai (Japanese, 1677–1751)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: first half of the 18th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 52 5/8 × 22 13/16 in. (133.7 × 58 cm)
Overall with mounting: 84 1/16 × 29 7/16 in. (213.5 × 74.8 cm)
Overall with knobs: 84 1/16 × 31 13/16 in. (213.5 × 80.8 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.300.154
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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