Untitled

Tsubaki Chinzan

19th century · Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Tsubaki Chinzan's versatility as a painter in the cultivated nanga style and as a portraitist of nature is underlined in this bold composition in which the absence of surrounding detail forces us to observe closely the hawk with its captured prey. Here is the world of flux—a natural order, where the supremacy of this proud hawk is determined by its swift wing, not unlike the prowess of the samurai, the class to which Chinzan belonged. The hawk alights on the sharply defined bamboo fronds, whose energized lines echo the shape of the bird's talons. The sharpness of the hawk's eye and the grasping motion of the protruding bamboo leaves above its head fracture the empty space in which the viewer may contemplate the other bird's uncertain fate.

Artist

Tsubaki Chinzan

Date

19th century

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975