Bo Ya Plays the Qin as Zhong Ziqi Listens
The Liezi, a fourth-century Daoist text, records the story of Bo Ya and Zhong Ziqi, scholars renowned for their devotion to each other. Bo Ya, an accomplished player of the qin, a type of zither, would frequently play for his friend Zhong, himself a musician who truly appreciated his friend’s music. When Zhong died, however, the bereaved Bo Ya deliberately broke his instrument, never to play again.
Likely once part of a set of sliding-door panels (fusuma), this painting depicts Bo Ya and Zhong Ziqi taking shelter from a storm beneath a cliff, where Bo Ya plays his qin to pass the time. The work bears no seal or signature but exemplifies the formal landscape style of the early Kano school and was traditionally attributed to the school’s founder, Motonobu. Discrepancies with Motonobu’s accepted style, however, suggest that the artist was active in Motonobu’s circle, probably during the 1530s.
Likely once part of a set of sliding-door panels (fusuma), this painting depicts Bo Ya and Zhong Ziqi taking shelter from a storm beneath a cliff, where Bo Ya plays his qin to pass the time. The work bears no seal or signature but exemplifies the formal landscape style of the early Kano school and was traditionally attributed to the school’s founder, Motonobu. Discrepancies with Motonobu’s accepted style, however, suggest that the artist was active in Motonobu’s circle, probably during the 1530s.
Artwork Details
- 狩野元信周辺 伯牙鍾子期図
- Title: Bo Ya Plays the Qin as Zhong Ziqi Listens
- Artist: Circle of Kano Motonobu (Japanese, 1477–1559)
- Period: Muromachi period (1392–1573)
- Date: 1530s
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 65 1/16 × 34 1/4 in. (165.2 × 87 cm)
Overall with mounting: 8 ft. 10 7/8 in. × 40 13/16 in. (271.5 × 103.7 cm)
Overall with knobs: 8 ft. 10 7/8 in. × 43 3/16 in. (271.5 × 109.7 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.300.67
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Kano Motonobu
probably 17th century
Kano Motonobu
probably 17th century
Kano Motonobu
probably 17th century
Kano Motonobu
probably 17th century
Kano Motonobu
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