Landscape
On a moonlit night, a small boat carries its passengers toward a thatched lakeside pavilion as a bank of mist rolls through the craggy mountains. The faint traces of two seals on the lower left side of the scroll enable an attribution to Maejima Sōyū, a professional painter active in the castle-town of Odawara in eastern Japan and affiliated with a local branch of the influential Kano family of painters. Sōyū’s style owes a great deal to the family’s progenitor, Kano Masanobu (ca. 1434–ca. 1530), and he may have studied directly under Masanobu or his son, Kano Motonobu (1476–1559). A later copy in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum confirms that by the mid-nineteenth century the present work had come to bear an attribution to Masanobu. The two seals of Maejima Sōyū, which can be seen on another painting at the Met by this artist (2002.3), had already been effaced by this time, presumably to enable the attribution to his better-known teacher. The work was once part of a larger set of landscapes, probably eight or twelve scrolls total, of which five have survived and are held in various collections worldwide: the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Museum für Asiatische Kunst in Berlin, the Chiba City Museum, and a private Japanese collection.
Artwork Details
- 山水図
- Title: Landscape
- Artist: Maejima Sōyū (active mid-16th century)
- Period: Muromachi period (1392–1573)
- Date: 16th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions: Image: 20 1/4 × 13 5/8 in. (51.4 × 34.6 cm)
Overall with mounting: 55 3/4 × 18 3/4 in. (141.6 × 47.6 cm)
Overall with knobs: 55 3/4 × 20 3/4 in. (141.6 × 52.7 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: 1975.268.41
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Maejima Sōyū
mid-16th century
Shikibu Terutada
mid-16th century
Uto Gyoshi
mid- to late 16th century
Sesson Shūkei
1550s
Sesson Shūkei
ca. 1555–61
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.