伊藤若冲筆　月下白梅図|White Plum Blossoms and Moon

Itō Jakuchū

1755 · Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk · Asian Art

A large full moon is sole witness to a miraculous burst of white blossoms emerging out of a gnarled, old plum tree in the stillness of night. Itō Jakuchū, who painted this extraordinary, dreamlike image, was counted as one of the Three Eccentrics of the Edo period, together with Soga Shōhaku (1730– 1781) and Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754–1799). In his exuberant depictions of plant life, he combined seemingly incompatible elements, such as realism with brilliant color and decorative abstraction. Born the eldest son of a wholesale grocer in Kyoto, Jakuchū inherited the family business and ran it for more than fifteen years. It was not until he reached his late thirties that he began to paint full-time. This painting, inscribed with the year 1755, is one of the earliest of his dated works.

Artist

Itō Jakuchū

Date

1755

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

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