The preparation or drinking of sencha (Chinese-style steeped tea) was a frequent subject of Chinese literati painters. Here Aoki Mokubei depicted a man and his servant in a mountain setting preparing sencha tea over a ceramic stove. The division of the composition into two distinct areas, as though painted on opposite sides of a large bowl, reminds us that the artist learned to paint while working primarily as a potter.
Mokubei also established himself as a painter in the Nanga (Literati school) style. He grew up in the Gion district of Kyoto, where his family owned a restaurant and brothel. Mokubei began making pottery under the guidance of Okuda Eisen (1753–1811), and he was soon celebrated for his copies of Chinese ceramics. Together with Eisen and Nin’ami Dōhachi (1783–1855), he is credited with reviving the ceramics traditions of Kyoto.
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青木木米筆 山中喫茶図扇面
Title:Preparing Tea by a Mountain Gorge
Artist:Aoki Mokubei (Japanese, 1767–1833)
Period:Edo period (1615–1868)
Date:1825
Culture:Japan
Medium:Folding fan mounted as a hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
Dimensions:Image: 8 1/4 × 19 7/16 in. (21 × 49.4 cm) Overall with mounting: 39 3/8 × 25 1/16 in. (100 × 63.7 cm) Overall with knobs: 39 3/8 × 27 7/16 in. (100 × 69.7 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Accession Number:2015.300.180
Aoki Mokubei (1767–1833) was the youngest son of a restaurateur and brothel keeper in the Gion district of Kyoto, which is still known today for its many restaurants. The name of the family business was "Kiya." The first Chinese character of this name is also pronounced "moku" in Japanese. Mokubei's childhood name was Yasohachi, which is written in three characters—"eight," "ten," and "eight"—Japanese for the numeral eighty-eight. When written together, the three characters form one Chinese character that means "rice" and is pronounced "kome" or "bei." Thus, "Mokubei" is an acronym that combines the family's trade name with Mokubei's childhood name. Mokubei had a penchant for playing with names, and in his later years he invented another name for himself, "Rōbei." Mokubei is believed to have lost his hearing while working at pottery kilns, and "Rō" means deaf.
When he was about fifteen, Mokubei was introduced to the art world through the antiquarian, seal carver, and painter Kō Fuyō (1722–1784), and it was perhaps through this association that he became adept at making copies of antique objects. He was also a potter, and though today his reputation is based on his work as a painter, in his own day he was known primarily for his pottery. Mokubei began making pottery under the guidance of Okuda Eisen (1753–1811), and he was soon celebrated for his copies of Chinese ceramics.[1] These in turn inspired the young potters of Kyoto, where the art of pottery making had been in decline since the death of Ogata Kenzan, in 1743. Together with Eisen and a colleague Nin'ami Dōhachi (1783–1855), Mokubei is credited with reviving the ceramics industry in Kyoto ( on this revival, see cat. no. 130).
Mokubei made many ceramic vessels for a special kind of tea drinking called sencha, in which leaf tea is used rather than matcha (powdered tea), which is required in chanoyu. Sencha is less formal than chanoyu, and it was the only kind of tea drinking that the Japanese practiced before the introduction of matcha in the early Kamakura period. Sencha was then virtually replaced by matcha until it was reintroduced by a Chan monk, Yin Yuan (1591–1673), who arrived in Japan in 1654. Japanese sinophiles, dissatisfied with the highly institutionalized chanoyu, promptly returned to sencha drinking.
The preparation or drinking of sencha was a frequent subject for the Chinese painters most admired by the Japanese—Qian Xuan (ca. 1235–1300), for example, and Qian Gu 1508–ca. 1574). Mokubei followed in this tradition and made a number of paintings that depict figures drinking tea.
Here, a man—perhaps Mokubei himself— is shown assisted by a servant preparing the sencha over a tall ceramic stove on a hilltop next to a mountain gorge. The rock on which the two men are seated hangs precariously over a ravine, left undefined as an ambiguous void. Mountains, hills, and outcrops rise on the far side. The height of the mountain and the depth of the ravine would have appeared greater when the painting was properly pasted on the frame of a folding fan, as was originally intended. The almost lacquer-like black ink concentrated on the foliage at the left shimmers against the silver luster of the sizing agent applied to the paper. Contour lines are discontinuous, breaking in quick, agitated strokes. The hills in the center are rendered with a scratchy brush and dry, light ink, which creates the effect of crumbling rock. Red ochre on the rocks hints at the warm, dry air of early summer. The influence of pottery decoration is especially apparent in the abrupt division of the landscape into two distinct areas, as though they were painted on opposite sides of a large bowl.
Mokubei's painting techniques suggest that he learned to paint while working as a potter. It is often assumed that he began painting only late in life. However, his accomplishments as a painter by the time he was twenty-nine led to his participation in a exhibition organized by Minagawa Kien (1734–1807) in 1796, the "Higashiyamashii Shoga Tenkan" (Exhibition of New Calligraphy and Painting in Kyoto).[2]
The majority of Mokubei's paintings with dated inscriptions were done in the last twenty years of his life. This one is dated by his own inscription "early summer, the Year of the Bird," which corresponds to 1825, one of the most productive years of the artist's life. His seal, "Mokubei," is impressed at the top right corner of the fan. Another seal, "Aoki," appears below the signature, but it is impressed upside down. It is believed that Mokubei was losing his sight—as he had earlier lost his hearing—toward the end of his life and was often unable to determine the correct way to impress his seals.
[Miyeko Murase 2000, Bridge of Dreams]
[1] On the life of Mokubei, see "Mokubei" 1967, p. 46. [2] Sasaki Kōzō 1977, p. 103.
Inscription: Robei, early summer, year of Otsuyu [1825]
Marking: Seals: Mokubei, Seibei
Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation , New York (until 2015; donated to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," November 7, 1975–January 4, 1976.
Seattle Art Museum. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," March 10–May 1, 1977.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection," June 1–July 17, 1977.
Tokyo National Museum. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," May 21, 1985–June 30, 1985.
Nagoya City Art Museum. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," August 17, 1985–September 23, 1985.
Atami. MOA Museum of Art. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," September 29, 1985–October 27, 1985.
Hamamatsu City Museum of Art. "Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: nyūyōku bāku korekushon," November 12, 1985–December 1, 1985.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Paintings of the Nanga School," January 27–May 13, 1990.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Japanese Art from The Mary Griggs Burke Collection," March 30–June 25, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Kyoto: Capital of Artistic Imagination," July 24, 2019–January 31, 2021.
Murase, Miyeko, Il Kim, Shi-yee Liu, Gratia Williams Nakahashi, Stephanie Wada, Soyoung Lee, and David Sensabaugh. Art Through a Lifetime: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Vol. 1, Japanese Paintings, Printed Works, Calligraphy. [New York]: Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, [2013], p. 280, cat. no. 356.
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