Cranes, one of a pair

Object Details

• Artist

  Ito Jakuchu 伊藤若冲 (1716-1800)

• Description

  The crane in this painting, with wing up, faces proper left.

• Inscriptions

  1. (James T. Ulak, 8 October 1997) Neither image (also see F1997.25.2) is signed or dated but each is impressed with the square intaglio To Jokin-in seal and round relief Jakuchu koji seal.

• Label

  From his sixtieth year (1776) Jakuchu was engaged in a series of projects that involved the erection of large ensembles of Buddhist stone sculptures. Evidence of this devotional activity is seen in the partially extant group of five-hundred rakan (arahats) statues placed on a hillside adjacent to Sekihoji, a Zen temple in Fukakusa just to the south of Kyoto. Jakuchu funded these projects through sale of his paintings and it is from this period until his death that the largest number of his ink paintings were produced.

  Jakuchu's fascination with the diptych format extends to his work in the folding screen format of twelve joined panels. Jakuchu frequently eschewed a unified composition extending across the surface of a pair of screens and opted, instead for six pairs of compositionally linked images set on to a screen. This particular screen style was called oshi-e hari byobu (single panels painted then affixed to a folding screen format). In some instances, such paintings have been subsequently separated from their screen format and remounted as single paintings or as diptychs.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Seasons: Arts of Japan (February 5, 2011 to January 13, 2013)

  Birds and Beasts in Japanese Art (January 31 to July 18, 2004)

  Beyond the Legacy--Anniversary Acquisitions of the Freer Gallery of Art (October 11, 1998 to April 11, 1999)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — funds provided by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Freer Gallery of Art

• 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

  Ito, Jakuchu

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings