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Old Plum

Kano Sansetsu Japanese
1646
Not on view
The massive black trunk of an ancient plum tree stretches across four sliding panels, its gnarled branches twisting vigorously. Against the gold ground, delicate blossoms sprouting from the old tree suggest the chill of early spring and symbolize renewal. These panels originally formed one wall of a room in Tenshō’in, a subtemple of Myōshinji, a major Zen complex in Kyoto. Once visible in an adjacent room at Myōshinji and now preserved in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, their reverses depict the Chinese theme of the “Eight Daoist Immortals.”

The panels showing the “Old Plum” were sold to a private collector in the 1880s and later trimmed at the top. They entered The Met in 1975 as among the master works of the Packard Collection. The Shōin Room was constructed in 1987 to display the paintings in a setting resembling a formal reception room of Edo-period Japan.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 狩野山雪筆　老梅図襖
  • Title: Old Plum
  • Artist: Kano Sansetsu (Japanese, 1590–1651)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: 1646
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Four sliding-door panels (fusuma); ink, color, gold, and gold leaf on paper
  • Dimensions: Overall (of all four panels): 68 3/4 x 191 1/8 in. (174.6 x 485.5 cm)
    Overall (a): 68 3/8 x 47 5/8 in. (173.7 x 121 cm)
    Overall (b): 68 3/8 x 48 3/4 in. (173.7 x 123.8 cm)
    Overall (c): 68 1/2 x 47 3/4 in. (174 x 121.3 cm)
    Overall (d): 68 1/2 x 47 3/4 in. (174 x 121.3 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.268.48a–d
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

Audio

Cover Image for 8880. The Old Plum

8880. The Old Plum

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