Eight Views of Omi Province
date: label: Date
content: 1670
label: Period
content: Edo period
name: label: Artist
content: Kano Tan'yu 狩野探幽 (1602-1674)
notes: label: Description
content: Eight Views of Omi Province. Eight inscriptions, signature and seal. Silk makimono.
label: Signatures
content: Kunaikyō hōin Tanyū gyōnen rokujūsai hitsu
label: Signatures
content: 宮内卿法印探幽行年六十歳筆
label: Signatures
content: 宮内卿法印探幽行年六十歳筆
label: Marks
content: Artist's seal following signature: Tanyūsai 探幽斎
label: Label
content: The subject of this handscroll is the Eight Views of Omi, the region around Lake Biwa near Kyoto. The landscapes are executed in a soft, evocative style that suggests rather than delineates forms. Above each scene is a Japanese poem, written in elegant cursive Japanese hiragana script following to the left of the title in Chinese characters. Tan'yu's signature at the end of the scroll gives his title as "Seal of the Law, official of the Imperial Palace." The title Hoin (Seal of the [Buddhist] Law) was an honorific ecclesiastical title awarded to painters of high standing. After early training in Kyoto, Kano Tan'yu moved to Edo and became an official painter for the Tokugawa shoguns. He established an atelier in the Kajibashi district of Edo and received many important commissions, including the decoration of Edo Castle in 1622 and Nijo Castle in Kyoto in 1626.
label: Label
content: In addition to mastering the Chinese painting styles that had become a specialty of the Kano school, Tan'yu became proficient in the elegant courtly style of traditional Japanese painting that was a specialty of artists of the Tosa and Sumiyoshi schools. This style was popular among Tan'yu's patrons, who predominantly belonged to high level daimyo families but consciously sought to acquire the cultivation and prestige of Kyoto court culture.
label: Provenance
content: To 1904
label: Provenance
content: Michael Tomkinson (1841-1921), Kidderminster, England, to 1904 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1904 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Michael Tomkinson in 1904 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Makimono Reserved List, R. 440, pg. 1, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Seasons: Arts of Japan (February 5, 2011 to January 13, 2013)
label: Exhibition History
content: Landscapes in Japanese Art (February 2 to July 15, 2007)
label: Exhibition History
content: Real and Imagined Places in Japanese Art (March 4 to October 21, 2001)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art in the Age of Koetsu (June 6, 1998 to February 15, 1999)
label: Exhibition History
content: Japanese Art—Autumn Voices (October 14, 1981 to December 16, 1981)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Michael Tomkinson (1841-1921) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: Edo period (1615 - 1868)
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: makimono
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1904.390
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Ink and color on silk
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 27.3 x 276.7 cm (10 3/4 x 108 15/16 in)