Quail and Millet

late 17th century

Not on view

Tranquility pervades this delicate rendition of a traditional subject. Yukinobu, one of the few known female painters of the Edo period, was the daughter of Kusumi Morikage (ca. 1620–1690), a distinguished painter. Like her father, she reworked conventional themes from Muromachi ink painting in a personal manner. Here, the asymmetrical composition and realism recall twelfth-century Chinese academic prototypes of the subject, but Yukinobu’s treatment is distinctive for its delicate hint of domestic harmony in the disposition of the quail and the gently swaying stalks of grain.

Artwork Details

粟に鶉図
Title: Quail and Millet
Artist: Kiyohara Yukinobu (Japanese, 1643–1682)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: late 17th century
Culture: Japan
Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Dimensions: 46 5/8 x 18 3/4 in. (118.4 x 47.6 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: The Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936
Object Number: 36.100.45
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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