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Gallery Text

Shunkin was the son of Uragami Gyokudō (1745–1820), whose miniaturized landscapes are displayed nearby. Unlike his father, Shunkin was immersed in the practice of ink painting from a young age, and during his lifetime was the better-known painter. These extraordinary, almost extraterrestrial scenes of piled rocks and flowing water may have been inspired by the cult of strange rocks among Chinese scholars. Shunkin’s dry brushwork is orthodox compared to his father’s, incorporating texture strokes reminiscent of the famous Chinese ink painter Ni Zan (1301–1374).

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2018.352
People
Uragami Shunkin 浦上春琴, Japanese (Bizen 1779 - 1846)
Title
Precipitous Rocks and Rushing Water
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
screen, painting
Date
1843
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, Japan
Period
Edo period, 1615-1868
Culture
Japanese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/340564

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink on paper
Dimensions
painting proper: H. 153.4 × W. 358.4 cm (60 3/8 × 141 1/8 in.)
overall, flexed open at 160-degree angle: H. 170.5 × W. 355.6 cm (67 1/8 × 140 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • signature: right screen: 癸卯夏五月春琴老人作於涼園中 [Painted by old man Shunkin in the Bunryōen (Garden of Listening to the Cool) summer, fifth month of the stem year Kibō (mizunoto- u; 1843)]
  • signature: left screen: 春琴散人寫 [Painted by Shunkin sanjin]
  • seal: upper; square, intaglio: 選紀 [Senki]
  • seal: lower; square, relief: 睡庵 [Sui’an]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Nishimura Kichiemon, Kyoto. [James Freeman, Kyoto (2001), sold; to Robert S. and Betsy G. Feinberg, Bethesda, MD (2001-2018), gift; to the Harvard Art Museums, 2018.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Robert S. and Betsy G. Feinberg
Accession Year
2018
Object Number
2018.352
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Commentary
Right screen: Precipitous Rocks (2018.352.1)
Left screen: Rushing Water (2018.352.2)

Publication History

  • Kyoto National Museum, ed., Nihon kinsei meiga taikan, exh. cat. (Kyoto, Japan, 1941), pl. 150
  • Rachel Saunders and Yukio Lippit, Painting Edo: Selections from the Feinberg Collection of Japanese Art, exh. cat. (Cambridge, MA, 2020), pp. 84-86, fig. 73
  • Rachel Saunders, ed., Catalogue of the Feinberg Collection of Japanese Art, brochure, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, 2021), pp. 209-210, cat. 209

Exhibition History

Subjects and Contexts

  • Google Art Project

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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