Night Mooring at Maple Bridge

楓橋夜泊図

mid- to late 1700s

Ike Taiga 池大雅

(Japanese, 1723–1776)

Culture

Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

Medium

hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Measurements

Mounted: 210.1 x 53 cm (82 11/16 x 20 7/8 in.); Painting only: 134.9 x 38.4 cm (53 1/8 x 15 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Bequest of Maud Eells Corning 1992.386

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Location

Not on view

Description

In the upper left corner of his painting, Ike Taiga has inscribed a poem by the Chinese poet Zhang Ji (張繼) (733?–779). It reads as follows:

The moon has set and crows caw as frost fills the sky.
A riverside maple and fishing lights confront my uneasy sleep.
Beyond the walls of Gusu lies Hanshan Temple.
Its midnight bell reaches my traveler’s boat.

The traveler’s boat appears through dense foliage in the foreground. A maple and two fishing boats are in the middle ground. In the distance is Hanshan Temple.