Birds in Landscape

Maker(s)
Artist: Hasegawa Tonin
Historical period(s)
Edo period, ca. 1617
Medium
Ink, color, and gold on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 160.5 x 168 cm (63 3/16 x 66 1/8 in)
Geography
Japan
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1962.10
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Painting
Type

Screen (two-panel)

Keywords
Edo period (1615 - 1868), egret, Japan, landscape, pheasant
Provenance
Provenance research underway.
Label

A document pasted on the back of one of three screens (F1962.12; see also F1962.10) gives a detailed account of the history of the paintings. They are said to have been painted for installation as sliding doors in the Akashi Castle, which was built near the city of Kobe in 1617 by Ogasawara Tadazane (1596-1667), founder of the Kokura clan and a maternal grandson of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616). Akashi Castle was destroyed in a fire fewer than two decades after its completion, but the set of twelve panels to which these paintings belong was saved. The sliding panels would have formed the mural-like decoration of a room in the castle. The paintings would have been remounted to folding screens.

According to the attached document, the panels were painted by Hasegawa Tonin with the occasional assistance of his son, Tojun. Apart from this account, little is known about the painter Hasegawa Tonin. The three screens in the Freer Gallery provide important evidence for the development of the Hasegawa school after the death of its founder, Hasegawa Tohaku (1539-1610).

Published References
  • Takahisa Konishi. "明石城の襖絵米で収蔵 バ: 築城400年'往時の姿今も." Fusuma-e Once Displayed at Akashi Castle: 400 Years Later. No. 43664 Kobecity Hyogo, Japan, September 8, 2019. p. 1.
  • Takahisa Konishi. "明石城 なぜ、天守は建てられなかったのか." Akashi Castle Why wasn't the castle tower built? Kobe City Hyogo, Japan, April 17, 2020. p. 86.
  • Masterpieces of Chinese and Japanese Art: Freer Gallery of Art handbook. Washington, 1976. p. 116.
  • Unknown title. no. 821 Tokyo, August 1960. p. 325.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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