Autumn Flowers in a Bamboo Basket

Yosa Buson Japanese
1760s
Not on view
An informal bouquet of autumn flowers stands in a tall Chinese-style bamboo basket with an elegant rounded handle. Chrysanthemums (kiku), Chinese bellflowers (kikyō), and rose mallows (fuyō) are all associated in traditional Japanese poetry with autumn, their season of full bloom. The Nanga-school artist Yosa Buson styles himself “Chōkō” in his signature, indicating that he painted this in his mid- to late forties. He used a technique for rendering the flowers called sumi-nijimi, or “ink blurring,” in which the artist applies brushstrokes to the surface of ink washes before they have dried, creating an evocative, soft texturing effect. This contrasts with the short horizontal strokes in dark ink used to convey the texture of the plaited bamboo.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 与謝蕪村筆秋草花竹籃図
  • Title: Autumn Flowers in a Bamboo Basket
  • Artist: Yosa Buson (Japanese, 1716–1783)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: 1760s
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 84 1/4 in. × 11 in. (214 × 27.9 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 73 3/4 × 15 1/2 in. (187.3 × 39.4 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 73 3/4 × 17 5/8 in. (187.3 × 44.8 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.500.9.18
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.