Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum

A catalogue of the Ashmolean's collection of Japanese paintings by Janice Katz (published Oxford, 2003).

Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum by Janice Katz

Publications online: 43 objects

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Flowering gourd plant

  • Literature notes

    Bunmei has painted a flowering gourd plant in ink, with just a touch of yellow in the centre of the open blossom. The thin stems of the flowers grow out of a base of broad leaves, and a small gourd is seen forming on the right. Spirals of delicate calligraphic lines form the plant’s tendrils. Bunmei is obviously a master of controlling the ink through painting techniques, however here he combines this with an obviously careful study of nature.

    Although one of Maruyama Ōkyo’s ten best pupils, details of Bunmei’s life are scarce and extant paintings by him are extremely few. He is especially well known as the writer of the biography of Maruyama Ōkyo, the Sensai Maruyama sensei den. In 1790, Bunmei was part of Ōkyo’s workshop that produced wall paintings for the Imperial Palace, and he also executed paintings for Daijōji temple of which a painting of wisteria and birds, an Important Cultural Property, is extant [published in Minamoto and Sasaki, 50, 191]. That composition displays the same controlled handling of the brush without making the composition look contrived as in the Ashmolean’s fan painting. Bunmei is able to show the real complexity of organic forms as they grow and twist, while managing to produce neat and pleasing pictorial compositions.
  • Description

    Little is known of the life of Oku Bunmei, except that he was one of the most talented pupils of the celebrated painter Maruyama Ōkyo. He displayed extraordinary control over the ink on his brush, seen here in the curling tendrils of the gourd plant. A master at transferring his careful observation of nature onto paper, he uses the minutest touch of bright yellow for the centre of the flower to enhance his variations in ink tone on the leaves, stems, and fruit.

  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    c. 1800
    Artist/maker
    Oku Bunmei (active c. 1790 - 1813, died 1813) (artist)
    Maruyama-Shijō School (active late 18th century - late 19th century)
    Material and technique
    ink and light colour on paper
    Dimensions
    mount 40.5 x 55.5 cm (height x width)
    painting 23.2 x 50 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased with the assistance of the Friends of the Ashmolean, and Mr and Mrs J. Hillier, 1973.
    Accession no.
    EA1973.18
  • Further reading

    Katz, Janice, Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, with an introductory essay by Oliver Impey (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2003), no. 25 on p. 98, p. 84, illus. pp. 98-99

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum by Janice Katz

    Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum

    Bunmei has painted a flowering gourd plant in ink, with just a touch of yellow in the centre of the open blossom. The thin stems of the flowers grow out of a base of broad leaves, and a small gourd is seen forming on the right. Spirals of delicate calligraphic lines form the plant’s tendrils. Bunmei is obviously a master of controlling the ink through painting techniques, however here he combines this with an obviously careful study of nature.

    Although one of Maruyama Ōkyo’s ten best pupils, details of Bunmei’s life are scarce and extant paintings by him are extremely few. He is especially well known as the writer of the biography of Maruyama Ōkyo, the Sensai Maruyama sensei den. In 1790, Bunmei was part of Ōkyo’s workshop that produced wall paintings for the Imperial Palace, and he also executed paintings for Daijōji temple of which a painting of wisteria and birds, an Important Cultural Property, is extant [published in Minamoto and Sasaki, 50, 191]. That composition displays the same controlled handling of the brush without making the composition look contrived as in the Ashmolean’s fan painting. Bunmei is able to show the real complexity of organic forms as they grow and twist, while managing to produce neat and pleasing pictorial compositions.
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Object information may not accurately reflect the actual contents of the original publication, since our online objects contain current information held in our collections database. Click on 'buy this publication' to purchase printed versions of our online publications, where available, or contact the Jameel Study Centre to arrange access to books on our collections that are now out of print.

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