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Egrets in a Lotus Pond

1852
Not on view
A flock of egrets has descended upon a pond where lotus plants are bursting into bloom. Yamamoto Baiitsu, one of the most prolific and highly esteemed Nanga (Literati) painters of the Owari domain (present-day Nagoya), was renowned for his bird-and-flower paintings and ink landscapes. This composition departs from his standard output by taking the two primary pictorial motifs—egrets and lotuses—and repeating them in profusion. The effective use of perspective adds a naturalistic flavor to the depiction not often found in the artist’s works. Baiitsu also mastered the “boneless” (mokkotsu) painting technique, in which outlines are discarded and pigments naturally pool to form the edges of forms, as seen in the rendering of the lotus leaves.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 山本梅逸筆　蓮池白鷺図
  • Title: Egrets in a Lotus Pond
  • Artist: Yamamoto Baiitsu (Japanese, 1783–1856)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: 1852
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
  • Dimensions: Image: 50 × 21 13/16 in. (127 × 55.4 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 84 × 27 9/16 in. (213.4 × 70 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 84 × 30 in. (213.4 × 76.2 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Fishbein-Bender Collection, Gift of T. Richard Fishbein and Estelle P. Bender, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.760
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

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Plum Blossoms, Yamamoto Baiitsu Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink on silk, Japan
Plum Blossoms
Yamamoto Baiitsu
dated 1851
Armor (<i>Gusoku</i>), Saotome Ietada Japanese, Iron, lacquer, silk, gilt copper, Japanese
Armor (Gusoku)
Armorer Helmet bowl signed Saotome Ietada
Armorer Breastplate inscribed inside, Myōchin Munesuke
16th and 18th centuries
Hawk at sunrise, Jeong Hong-Rae 정홍래 鄭弘來 Korean, Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk, Korea
Hawk at sunrise
Attributed to Jeong Hong-Rae 정홍래 鄭弘來
second half 18th century–first half 19th century
"Refined Elegance in the Four Seasons" (Shiji seiga), Album of Flower Paintings, Yamamoto Baiitsu Japanese, Album of twelve leaves; ink on paper, Japan
"Refined Elegance in the Four Seasons" (Shiji seiga), Album of Flower Paintings
Yamamoto Baiitsu
1844
Shō, Bamboo wood, metal, Japanese
Shō
Japanese
19th century

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