Drinking Festival of the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup
The Tang dynasty poet Du Fu celebrated eight famous drinkers of his age in his poem Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup (Inchū hassenka). In Nagasawa Rosetsu’s playful rendering of this theme, popular with Japanese painters from the late sixteenth century on, the artist has filled his composition with images of the eight drinkers, creating an almost bazaar-like atmosphere. The brushwork in the signature dances a bit compared with his typical style of signing; this could reflect Rosetsu’s harmonizing of his signature with the giddy mood of the painting. Rosetsu was Maruyama Ōkyo’s student and pursued the carefree life of the literati. Hence he was attracted to the unrestrained lives of the individuals shown in this painting.
Artwork Details
- 長澤蘆雪筆 飲中八仙図
- Title: Drinking Festival of the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup
- Artist: Follower of Nagasawa Rosetsu (Japanese, 1754–1799)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: late 18th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 51 5/8 × 23 11/16 in. (131.1 × 60.1 cm)
Overall with mounting: 88 3/4 × 29 11/16 in. (225.5 × 75.4 cm)
Overall with knobs: 88 3/4 × 32 1/16 in. (225.5 × 81.5 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.300.204
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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