Artist
Itō Jakuchū
(伊藤若冲; 1716–1800)
Catalogue information
Edo period, 1755
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
140.8 x 79.4 cm (55 3/8 x 31 1/4 in.)
Donated to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York by the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation in 2015
Literature
Mizuo Hiroshi 1968, p. 35
; 1968
“Getsuya hakubai zu” (“White Plum Blossoms in the Moonlight”). Kokka, no. 910 (January): 32–36.
Tsuji Nobuo 1974, pl. 63
; Murase 1975, no. 60
; 1975
Japanese Art: Selections from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Tsuji Nobuo et al. 1981, pl. 25
; 1981
Jakuchū, Shōhaku. Nihon bijutsu kaiga zenshū (Survey of Japanese painting), 23. Tokyo: Shūeisha.
Tokyo National Museum 1985a, no. 61
; 1985a
Nihon bijutsu meihin ten: New York Burke Collection / A Selection of Japanese Art from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection. Exh. cat. Tokyo: Chunichi Shimbun.
Satō Yasuhiro 1987, fig. 36
; Hickman and Satō 1989, fig. 26
; Avitabile 1990, no. 85
; 1990
[Editor]. Die Kunst des alten Japan: Meisterwerke aus der Mary and Jackson Burke Collection, New York. Exh. cat. Frankfurt: Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt.
Kano Hiroyuki 1993, pl. 40
; Burke 1996a, p. 54, fig. 1
; 1996a
“The Delights of Nature in Japanese Art.” Orientations 27, no. 2 (February): 54–61.
Kyoto National Museum 2000, pl. 35, pp. 156, 336
; 2000
Jakuchū: Tokubetsu tenrankai botsugo 200-nen; Bunkazai hogohō 50-nen kinen jigyō (Jakuchū: Special exhibition; The 200th anniversary of Jakuchū’s death). Exh. cat. Kyoto: Kyoto National Museum.
Murase 2000, no. 119
; 2000
Bridge of Dreams: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection of Japanese Art. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Tsuji Nobuo et al. 2005, no. 99.
2005
Nyūyōku Bāku korekushon-ten: Nihon no bi sanzennen no kagayaki / Enduring Legacy of Japanese Art: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu; Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum; and Miho Museum, Shigaraki, Shiga Prefecture. [Tokyo]: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha.
See also
This artwork was published as catalogue entry 428 in Volume I of Art through a Lifetime.
Additional details
Text
by Jakuchū
[The white blossoms] resemble white snowflakes. / They are pure all alone, / oblivious of spring.
Signature
Spring, second month, year of the boar, fifth year of the Hōreki era
[1755] / Respectfully painted by Jakuchū, Heian koji
Seals
Jokin
; Tōshi Keiwa
; [lower left] Expressing new ideas within the framework of rules