After Ike no Taiga’s “Horse Market in a Mountain Village”
Stables appear nestled into a mountain landscape, surrounded by a vast herd of horses masterfully rendered using minimal brushstrokes and a reduced palette—soft gray and orange-red, with areas left unpainted to indicate white steeds. The horse wranglers, depicted in a similarly abbreviated style, merge with the crowd. This painting, along with its narrative inscription, is a faithful copy by Watanabe Kazan of Ike no Taiga’s renowned work Horse Market in a Mountain Village (1755), housed today in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo.
Born into a family of lower-ranking samurai, Kazan pursued painting from a young age, approaching it as a means of earning a living. He studied under several prominent painters of various schools in Edo, particularly Tani Bunchō (1763–1840).
Born into a family of lower-ranking samurai, Kazan pursued painting from a young age, approaching it as a means of earning a living. He studied under several prominent painters of various schools in Edo, particularly Tani Bunchō (1763–1840).
Artwork Details
- 渡辺崋山摸 池大雅筆 「山村馬市図」
- Title: After Ike no Taiga’s “Horse Market in a Mountain Village”
- Artist: Watanabe Kazan (Japanese, died 1841)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: 1820s
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 57 5/8 × 23 1/16 in. (146.4 × 58.5 cm)
Overall with mounting: 85 3/8 × 29 1/4 in. (216.9 × 74.3 cm)
Overall with knobs: 85 3/8 × 31 11/16 in. (216.9 × 80.5 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2020
- Object Number: 2020.396.38
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Watanabe Kazan
ca. 1840
Watanabe Kazan
1822, year of the horse
Multiple artists/makers
19th century
Watanabe Kazan
ca. 1823
Chōbunsai Eishi
early 19th century
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