Tickets
English
DonateMembershipTickets

Calabash Flowers and Beetle

early 19th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 227
The calabash, or bottle gourd, is a climbing vine cultivated for its fruit. The plant’s fragrant white flowers bloom only at night, earning it the Japanese name yūgao (moonflower). Its blossoms are closely associated with a scene from chapter four of The Tale of Genji, where their brief appearance at dusk becomes a metaphor for fleeting romantic encounters and the transience of life. This painting, which also features a bright green insect—likely a figeater beetle—is by Maruyama Ōshin, the third-generation head of the school founded by his grandfather, Maruyama Ōkyo. Ōshin worked in Kyoto, producing figure paintings, landscapes, and bird-and-flower subjects. Renowned for his versatility, he also designed textiles for the Gion Festival, though later critics observed his increasing reliance on established workshop models.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 円山応震筆　夕顔に虫図
  • Title: Calabash Flowers and Beetle
  • Artist: Maruyama Ōshin (Japanese, 1790–1838)
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: early 19th century
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
  • Dimensions: Image: 39 1/4 × 14 5/16 in. (99.7 × 36.3 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 77 3/8 × 19 13/16 in. (196.5 × 50.4 cm)
    Overall with knobs: 77 3/8 × 22 3/16 in. (196.5 × 56.3 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.300.200
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

More Artwork
Children Playing in Summer and Winter, Maruyama Ōshin Japanese, Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper, Japan
Children Playing in Summer and Winter
Maruyama Ōshin
early 19th century
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
Vase with Butterflies , Katō Tomotarō Japanese, Porcelain with cobalt blue, pink, and white under transparent glaze, Japan

Vase with Butterflies

Katō Tomotarō
late 19th century
Shō, Bamboo wood, metal, Japanese
Shō
Japanese
19th century

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 contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.