仏手柑図|Buddha’s Hand Citron (Busshukan)

Katsushika Hokusai

mid-19th century · Matted painting; ink and color on silk · Asian Art

This meticulously rendered painting of an unusually shaped variety of citron, whose fruit is segmented into fingerlike sections, shows the influence of Western botanical studies. In Japanese, this exotic fruit is called busshukan 仏手柑, literally "Buddha’s Hand Citron." Native to the Himalayas, the subject was appreciated by Bunjin (literati) painters, and is the subject of a poem in Chinese “Koto and Buddha’s Hand in Springtime” by renowned historian, poet, and calligrapher Rai San’y (1780–1832). The painting does not seem to have any connection to Katsushika Hokusai except that it has a seal, rendered in cursive characters and kana that have been deciphered as Katsushika 葛しか. But since the shapes of the characters vary a bit from accepted variants, we can assume the seal was added a later time by a dealer who wanted give added luster to an anonymous painting.

Artist

Katsushika Hokusai

Date

mid-19th century

Medium

Matted painting; ink and color on silk

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929