飲中八仙図|Drinking Festival of the Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup

Nagasawa Rosetsu 長澤蘆雪

late 18th century · Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

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.

Artist

Nagasawa Rosetsu 長澤蘆雪

Date

late 18th century

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

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