Sketch for a Painting of Mi Fu Inscribing a Poem on a Rock

Kano artist After Kano Tan'yū Japanese

Not on view

In this large vertical composition, Tan'yū depicted the famous Northern Song calligrapher Mi Fu (1051–1107) writing a poem on a rock surface at a celebrated literati party known as the Elegant Gathering at the Western Garden. This panel also bears Tan'yū's title, mention of his age (sixty-five), and a painted seal reading Seimei.

Most of Tan'yū's shukuzu lack the fully realized signatures seen on this panel and its companion. These drawings may have been made not as shukuzu but rather as preliminary drawings for paintings.

Sketch for a Painting of Mi Fu Inscribing a Poem on a Rock, Kano artist After Kano Tan'yū (Japanese, 1602–1674), Hanging scroll mounted as a panel; ink and color on paper, Japan

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Sketch for a Painting of Mi Fu Inscribing a Poem on a Rock, Kano artist After Kano Tan'yū (Japanese, 1602–1674), Hanging scroll mounted as a panel; ink and color on paper, Japan
Sketch for a Painting of Mi Fu Inscribing a Poem on a Rock, Kano artist After Kano Tan'yū (Japanese, 1602–1674), Hanging scroll mounted as a panel; ink and color on paper, Japan
Sketch for a Painting of Mi Fu Inscribing a Poem on a Rock, Kano artist After Kano Tan'yū (Japanese, 1602–1674), Hanging scroll mounted as a panel; ink and color on paper, Japan

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