Mountain Landscape

Traditionally attributed to Tenshō Shūbun Japanese

early–mid-15th century

Not on view

In late medieval Kyoto, cultural elites in the circle of the Ashikaga shoguns were especially interested in Chinese ink paintings. They voraciously collected works by Chinese masters and commissioned Japanese painters to create works in the style of their Chinese forebears. The compositions that make up this pair of screens are inspired by the Southern Song Chinese court painter Xia Gui (active ca. 1195–1230), whose works were highly prized in medieval Japan. Rock forms described with thick contour lines, textured by “axe-cut” brushstrokes and accented with “moss dots,” as well as paired foreground trees were immediately recognizable to the Japanese audience as elements of Xia Gui–style painting. Although later inscriptions by the painter Kano Yasunobu (1614–1685) name the original artist as the Kyoto painter Tenshō Shūbun, the paintings were not actually created as a pair. Rather, they are a later combination of two separate works, both by artists active shortly after Shūbun.

Artwork Details

伝天章周文筆　山水図屏風
Title: Mountain Landscape
Artist: Traditionally attributed to Tenshō Shūbun (Japanese, active 1414–before 1463)
Period: Muromachi period (1392–1573)
Date: early–mid-15th century
Culture: Japan
Medium: Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on paper
Dimensions: 60 5/8 in. × 9 ft. 6 3/16 in. (154 × 290 cm)
Overall with mounting: 68 in. × 9 ft. 11 11/16 in. (172.7 × 304 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Object Number: 2015.300.51.1, .2
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

By Tenshō Shūbun

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Elegant Conversation in Mountains, Tenshō Shūbun Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper, Japan — Elegant Conversation in Mountains
Tenshō Shūbun
17th century

Landscapes of Autumn and Winter, Tenshō Shūbun Japanese, Diptych of hanging scrolls; ink and color on paper, Japan — Landscapes of Autumn and Winter
Tenshō Shūbun
17th century

Gibbons in a Landscape, Sesson Shūkei 雪村周継 Japanese, Pair of six-panel screens; ink on paper, Japan — Gibbons in a Landscape
Sesson Shūkei 雪村周継
ca. 1570

Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons, Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold, and gold leaf on paper, Japan — Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons
Japan
late 16th century

Flowers and Grasses of the Four Seasons, Kano Mitsunobu 狩野光信 Japanese, Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold paint, and gold leaf on paper, Japan — Flowers and Grasses of the Four Seasons
Kano Mitsunobu 狩野光信
late 16th century

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