Visiting a Friend on a Wooded Cliff

Object Details

• Artist

  Ike Taiga 池大雅 (1723-1776)

• Inscription

  Box inscribed by Tomioka Tessai 富岡鉄斎 (1836-1924)

• Description

  In this narrow hanging scroll, a scholar and his young attendant make their way up a steep pathway toward a retreat, where another scholar gazes into the distance. The painting is executed spontaneously, in quick, repeated brush strokes. Ike Taiga, who became a leading artist of the Nanga school, learned his distinctive style from woodblock-printed manuals on the techniques of Chinese painting. For the themes of his work, he also drew his inspiration from Chinese sources. Here, the inscription on the painting quotes a single line from a Chinese poem: "Mountain ranges of great age, trees one thousand meters high."

• Signatures

  Taiga's signature appears on the painting.

• Marks

  Three seals appear on the painting.

• Inscriptions

  The inscription quotes one line of a Chinese poem from the Tang dynasty, which can be rendered: "Layered peaks of great antiquity; trees one thousand meters high."

• Provenance

  By 1960 to 1962

  Yoshine Iida, acquired in Japan by 1960 [1]

  From 1962 to 1992

  Sanae Iida Reeves, Arligton, VA, by descent, in 1962 [2]

  From 1992

  Freer Gallery of Art, given by Mr. and Mrs. Douglas F. and Sanae Reeves, in 1992 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] Ownership of the object by the donor's father, Yoshine Iida, is recorded in the 1960 publication Ike Taiga sakuhin shu (see Curatorial Note 4, Ann Yonemura, June 30, 1992, in the object record).

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] Transferred from the Freer Study Collection to the Freer Permanent Collection on December 23, 1994 (see Curatorial Note 4, Elizabeth F. Duley, December 30, 1994, in the object record).

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Landscapes in Japanese Art (February 2 to July 15, 2007)

  Real and Imagined Places in Japanese Art (March 4 to October 21, 2001)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Iida Yoshine (1898-1960)

  Mr. and Mrs. Douglas F. and Sanae Reeves

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Sanae Iida Reeves in memory of her father, Iida Yoshine

• 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.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

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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

  Iida, Yoshine, Reeves, Douglas F. and Sanae

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Mountains, Art, Scholar, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Kakemono

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings