左隻
右隻
Grapes
葡萄図
- Birth Year
- 1876
- Death Year
- 1963
- Date
- ca. 1936
- Technique, Material, Format
- ink on silk, a pair of two-panel folding screens
- Dimension
- each 174.0 x 171.0 cm
- Donor name
- Mr. Tsutsui Sataro
- Category
- Nihonga (Japanese-style Painting)
- Inventory Number
- 83-JP-009
With their plentiful fruit, grapevines are considered a symbol of fertility and prosperity. The scene depicted here, where the vines are spreading out, seems to enhance the message of abundance. For example, on the right-hand screen, the artist has drawn the veins in the leaves with distinct lines, but left out the outlines of the leaves and fruits. With this method of using light and shade without reliance on outlines, he makes the grapes blend into the darkness of the night. You can see that it has the effect of making the scene appear daubed in moonlight. Prior to the Edo Period (1603–1868), Chinese poetry was often added to ink paintings. This artist lived later, from the Meiji (1868–1912) to the Showa (1926–1989) eras, but he too has added a poem praising the beauty of the moonlight that resonating with the richness of the grapes.
(YATSUYANAGI Sae)