Artwork Page for Duck in Flight

Details / Information for Duck in Flight

Duck in Flight

mid-1500s

Shikibu Terutada 式部輝忠

(Japanese, active mid-1500s)
Culture
Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573)
Medium
fan painting mounted as hanging scroll; ink and gold on paper
Measurements
Painting: 25 x 50.2 cm (9 13/16 x 19 3/4 in.); Mounted: 99.8 x 65.2 cm (39 5/16 x 25 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Seventy-fifth anniversary gift of Leighton Longhi in memory of Yabumoto Soshiro 1992.140
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

These three fan-shaped paintings, now mounted as individual hanging scrolls, were once part of a set of 20 mounted on a folding screen. They portray the Chinese subjects, from left to right, of the scholar-official Pan Lang, Hanshan reciting his poetry to Shide, and a duck in flight above reeds. Pan Lang grew so fond of the mountain in his place of exile that when he was ordered back to the capital, he rode backward on his donkey so he could see it until it receded into the distance. Hanshan and Shide worked in the kitchen of a Zen monastery, but were actually reincarnations of the bodhisattvas Manjushri and Samantabhadra. The combination of a mandarin duck and reeds may have signified a level of attainment in Chinese civil service exams. All three paintings bear the seal of the Kantobased artist Shikibu Terutada. Shikibu was familiar with Kano school painting, but he also modeled his early style after that of the prominent Kanto-based Kenkō Shōkei (active about 1470–after 1523).
Mounted on a dark brown floral textile, this fan-shaped ink and gold painting features a duck in flight across a warm gold wash. Fine black brushstrokes and gray washes detail its outstretched wings. Sparse blades of grass grow from the lower right, where a square red seal is stamped. The composition emphasizes the bird's dynamic motion against the metallic surface, framed by the repeating floral patterns of the surrounding silk.

Duck in Flight

mid-1500s

Shikibu Terutada

(Japanese, active mid-1500s)
Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573)

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