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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
"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
Wild Hawk on a Tree, Yamamoto Baiitsu Japanese, Hanging scroll; ink on satin, Japan
Wild Hawk on a Tree
Yamamoto Baiitsu
1838
Insects and Grasses, Yamamoto Baiitsu Japanese, Handscroll; ink and color on silk, Japan
Insects and Grasses
Yamamoto Baiitsu
dated 1847
Arashiyama in Spring (right); Mt. Takao in Autumn (left), Yamamoto Baiitsu Japanese, Pair of six-panel folding screens; color with gold ground on paper, Japan
Returned to lender
Arashiyama in Spring (right); Mt. Takao in Autumn (left)
Yamamoto Baiitsu
1832

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