Drinking Festival of the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup

Follower of Nagasawa Rosetsu 長澤蘆雪 Japanese

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The Tang dynasty poet Du Fu celebrated eight famous drinkers of his age in his poem Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup (Inchū hassenka). In Nagasawa Rosetsu’s playful rendering of this theme, popular with Japanese painters from the late sixteenth century on, the artist has filled his composition with images of the eight drinkers, creating an almost bazaar-like atmosphere. The brushwork in the signature dances a bit compared with his typical style of signing; this could reflect Rosetsu’s harmonizing of his signature with the giddy mood of the painting. Rosetsu was Maruyama Ōkyo’s student and pursued the carefree life of the literati. Hence he was attracted to the unrestrained lives of the individuals shown in this painting.

Drinking Festival of the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup, Follower of Nagasawa Rosetsu 長澤蘆雪 (Japanese, 1754–1799), Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper, Japan

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Drinking Festival of the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup, Follower of Nagasawa Rosetsu 長澤蘆雪 (Japanese, 1754–1799), Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper, Japan
Drinking Festival of the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup, Follower of Nagasawa Rosetsu 長澤蘆雪 (Japanese, 1754–1799), Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper, Japan

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