Tatars playing polo and hunting

Object Details

• Artist

  Kano Tan'yu 狩野探幽 (1602-1674)

• Description

  Six-panel painting screen depicting equestrian activities of the nomadic Tatars of northern China.

  Artist Kano Tan'yū sketched the hunting scenes on the right screen (F1982.36) in the foreground terrain. The landscape elements are painted predominantly in monochrome with slight colors. The mounted hunters encircle a pair of fleeing tigers. To the left, right, and below, other hunters pursue boars, a mountain goat, and a rabbit. Chieftans observe the hunt on a cliff against the mountain landscape that recedes into the mist.

  There are polo players in the center of the left screen (F1982.37) and, around the edges, several mounted falconers and more hunters. In the upper left, tucked behind a rocky cliff, is a camp site. Outdoor screens appear before and behind a large tent; a chieftan sits quietly on a stool covered with a tiger skin, attended by both male and female retinues. Outside the tent are a mobile domed tent, a cart, a drummer, a flute player, and two cooks cutting fresh meat. Under the cliff, two horses, one tethered, are attended by grooms.

• Inscriptions

  On the right of the first panel of the right screen (F1982.36) is Tan'yu's signature and his age:

  "Honin Tan'yu gyonen rokuju shichi sai hitsu" (By the brush of Tan'yu, the Seal of the Law, age sixty-seven."

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Japanese Screens (February 6 to August 19, 2013)

  Telling Tales in Japanese Art (November 23, 1996 to August 14, 1997)

  Japanese Screens (February 11, 1983 to July 19, 1988)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — funds provided by the bequest of Edith Ehrman

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Kano, Tan'yu

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Rabbits, Art, Hunting, Polo, Tiger, Mountains, Landscapes, Sport, Animals, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Goat, Woman

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings