田能村竹田筆 竹林双鶴図|Pair of Cranes in Bamboo Grove

Tanomura Chikuden 田能村竹田

ca. early 1830s · Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk · Asian Art

This exquisite composition by Tanomura Chikuden, one of the great Nanga painters active into the early nineteenth century, captures a pair of red-crowned cranes lifting their heads as if viewing the full moon shining though a bamboo grove. While the cranes were meticulously brushed in ink and light color, the background was rendered in atmospheric monochrome. The painter executed the bamboo and grasses in smooth lines with a fine brush while handling the rocks with expressive strokes and bold ink washes, conveying the overall effect of the tranquil evening when the moon is full but partially obscured by a stand of bamboo. Tanomura Chikuden (1777–1835) was a Nanga painter who had close connections with scholars and painters in Kyoto. He was inspired by literati masters of the Yuan dynasty and compiled painting treatises that set the theoretical foundation for literati painting in Japan. His adopted son, Chokunyū, and grandson, Shōchiku, continued his pursuit of Nanga and inscribed the box containing this work.

Artist

Tanomura Chikuden 田能村竹田

Date

ca. early 1830s

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2022