Peach Blossom Spring

Object Details

• Artist

  Tani Buncho 谷文晁 (1763-1840)

• Label

  Tani Buncho was born in Edo, the son of the poet Tani Rokkoku, who served in the retinue of Lord Tayasu, a son of the eighth Tokugawa shogun. Like Hoitsu, Buncho studied a wide range of painting techniques and styles current at the time and he became an expert who recorded paintings and inscriptions in copies. Although he painted in individualistic styles, he is best known for his works in the Chinese-inspired Nanga mode; one of his teachers was Watanabe Gentai. This painting, which reflects Buncho's familiarity with Chinese paintings of the late Wu school, illustrates a famous Chinese poem by Tao Qian (365-427), in which he describes a fisherman who discovers a utopia inhabited by people who had escaped from warfare and oppression under the first Qin emperor (reigned 221-206 BCE). After the fisherman returned, he could not resist telling of his discovery, and the place was never found again. Tao's poem, which expresses the Chinese poet's ideal of retreat from the troubled world, became a frequent subject of Chinese painting.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Arts of Japan: Edo Aviary and Poetic License (February 2 to August 4, 2013)

  Poetic License: Making Old Worlds New (February 2 to August 4, 2013)

  Artists of Edo (November 19, 2005 to May 29, 2006)

  The Idea of China in Japan: The Tea Ceremony in Japan (December 19, 1999 to June 11, 2000)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• 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

  Tani, Buncho

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Mountains, Art, Peach Blossom Spring, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Rivers, Spring

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings