Herdboys and Buffalos
A pair of water buffalo, followed by a calf, wade through shallow water, their herdboys perched on their backs. They are likely returning home after a day in the rice paddies, where, in China, water buffalo were used to draw plows. Associated in China with agriculture, fertility, and the spring season, herdboys and buffalo were also the subject of a Zen parable, "Ten Verses on Oxherding." Composed in eleventh-century China, it compares the herding of an ox with the individual’s search for enlightenment, which each person inherently has potential to attain, presented in ten phases. The theme was popular in China from the Song dynasty onward and was brought to Japan by the Kamakura period, when it became a popular subject for Zen ink painters.
Here, lightly inked images of water buffalo are shown crossing a stream––an uninked space framed by a darker foreground shore and a distant bank in a pale ink wash. The rendering of the buffalo through light washes and the simple strokes used for the herdboys bear a striking resemblance to the thirteenth-century handscroll One Hundred Water Buffalo in The Met’s collection (MMA 18.124.4), suggesting that a similar Chinese painting likely served as a direct or indirect source of inspiration. Although the multiple oxen and herdboys depicted here do not correspond to any specific episode in "Ten Verses on Oxherding," pictures such as this trigger associations with the Zen oxherding theme.
Here, lightly inked images of water buffalo are shown crossing a stream––an uninked space framed by a darker foreground shore and a distant bank in a pale ink wash. The rendering of the buffalo through light washes and the simple strokes used for the herdboys bear a striking resemblance to the thirteenth-century handscroll One Hundred Water Buffalo in The Met’s collection (MMA 18.124.4), suggesting that a similar Chinese painting likely served as a direct or indirect source of inspiration. Although the multiple oxen and herdboys depicted here do not correspond to any specific episode in "Ten Verses on Oxherding," pictures such as this trigger associations with the Zen oxherding theme.
Artwork Details
- 伝可翁筆 牧童図
- Title: Herdboys and Buffalos
- Artist: Attributed to Kaō (Japanese,active first half 14th century)
- Period: Kamakura (1185–1333)–Nanbokuchō period (1336–1392)
- Date: probably 15th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 19 11/16 × 11 5/8 in. (50 × 29.5 cm)
Overall with mounting: 53 11/16 × 14 7/16 in. (136.4 × 36.6 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2019
- Object Number: 2019.420.2
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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