琴棋書画図屏風|The Four Accomplishments

Kano Motonobu 狩野元信

mid-16th century · Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Within a landscape of towering pines, distant peaks, and roaring waterfalls are four scenes of human activity, each alluding to one of the four pursuits deemed appropriate for Chinese gentlemen: music, the board game Go, calligraphy, and painting. Motonobu, second-generation head of the Kano School of painting, laid the groundwork for the school’s centuries of dominance over mainstream Japanese painting. One of his many achievements was the adaptation of small-scale paintings (like fans and albums) associated with specific Chinese masters to large-scale painting formats such as folding screens and panels. Here, Motonobu employs brush techniques associated with the Southern Song Chinese court painter Xia Gui (active ca. 1195–1225). ).

Artist

Kano Motonobu 狩野元信

Date

mid-16th century

Medium

Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Dr. and Mrs. Roger G. Gerry Collection, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Roger G. Gerry, 1991