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Gallery Text

Inebriation was celebrated among literati as a means of transcending social and artistic boundaries. Gyokudō is often said to have painted while drunk, although it is unclear whether his intoxication was actual or metaphorical. The drunken persona reflects his commitment to the literati ideals of naturalness and amateurism reflected in this microcosmic landscape, which opens outward across an expanse of water into a range of faceted mountains in the distance, while a solitary traveler crosses a bridge in the foreground.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
TL42642.12
People
Uragami Gyokudō 浦上玉堂, Japanese (Bizen 1745 - 1820)
Title
Old Trees in Lonely Springtime
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 老樹蕭春 Rōju sho shun
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting, hanging scroll
Date
c. 1814
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, Japan
Period
Edo period, 1615-1868
Culture
Japanese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/20910

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2600, East Asian Art, East Asian Painting and Decorative Arts
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions
image only: 17.4 x 17.4 cm (6 7/8 x 6 7/8 in.)
with mount: 131.7 x 31.1 cm (51 7/8 x 12 1/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • signature: 玉堂 [Gyokudō]
  • seal: square, relief: 竹内大臣 [Descendant of the Minister Takeuchi]

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Promised gift of Robert S. and Betsy G. Feinberg
Object Number
TL42642.12
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Uragami Gyokudo gafu (Paintings by Gyokudo in the Hara Collection) (Kurashiki, Japan, 1933), plate 28
  • Kodansha, Suiboku bijutsu taikei: Gyokudo and Mokubei (Tokyo, Japan, 1975), pl. 83
  • Nihon bijutsu kaiga zenshu : Uragami Gyokudo (Tokyo, Japan, 1978)
  • Stephen Addiss, The resonance of the qin in East Asian art, exh. cat., China House Gallery (New York, NY, 1999), #23, p. 102
  • The Flowering of Edo Period Painting: Japanese Masterworks from the Feinberg Collection, exh. cat., Yomiuri Shinbunsha (Tokyo, 2013), p. 84, cat. 31
  • Rachel Saunders and Yukio Lippit, Painting Edo: Selections from the Feinberg Collection of Japanese Art, exh. cat. (Cambridge, MA, 2020), p. 59, fig. 46
  • Rachel Saunders, ed., Catalogue of the Feinberg Collection of Japanese Art, brochure, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, 2021), p. 62, cat. 50

Exhibition History

  • The Resonance of the Qin in East Asian Art, China Institute in America, New York, 09/17/1999 - 12/12/1999
  • The Flowering of Edo Period Painting: Japanese Masterworks from the Feinberg Collection, Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum, 05/21/2013 - 07/15/2013; Miho Museum, 07/20/2013 - 08/18/2013; Tottori Prefectural Museum, 10/05/2013 - 11/10/2013
  • 32Q: 2600 East Asian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 06/08/2024 - 12/02/2024
  • Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 02/14/2020 - 06/06/2021

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu