Untitled

Maruyama Ōkyo 円山応挙

late 1770s–early 1780s · Handscroll; ink on paper · Asian Art

Born to farmers in the Kyoto region, Ōkyo moved to the capital while in his teens and rose from an apprenticeship in a toy shop to being one of the most celebrated artists in Kyoto. The founder of the Maruyama school, he incorporated elements of Chinese painting traditions and Western perspective and realism into Japanese styles. This handscroll is either Ōkyo’s preparatory drawing for, or a sketchlike copy of, his 1777 polychrome handscroll painting of the same title (Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya). The scroll begins with a spring cherry- blossom outing on the banks of the Hozu River, followed by townspeople cooling off at the Kamo River in summer; early autumn is represented by traditional Obon dances, and winter by men and women arranging auspicious pine-sapling decorations for the New Year.

Artist

Maruyama Ōkyo 円山応挙

Date

late 1770s–early 1780s

Medium

Handscroll; ink on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015