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Artwork Page for Swift Bull from the Ten Swift Bulls

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Swift Bull from the Ten Swift Bulls

駿牛図　断簡

late 1200s–early 1300s
(1185–1333)
section of a handscroll mounted as a hanging scroll; ink and slight color on paper
Painting: 27.1 x 31.9 cm (10 11/16 x 12 9/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1952.286
Location: not on view
Public Domain
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Did You Know?

We know the original scroll had ten bulls because a copy of the complete scroll exists.

Description

Across the world, animals once played a much larger role in the transportation of the elite. Members of Japan’s imperial court traveled in vehicles pulled by oxen until the late 1400s, when oxcarts were restricted to ceremonial use. One sign of the past importance of the ox as a status symbol survives in this fragment from a scroll of portraits of 10 speedy bulls. The painter layered washes containing differing ratios of black ink to water to create a three-dimensional effect.
A vertically long hanging scroll with two vertical straps at the top and a painting in the center. The painting is of a bull, painted with black ink, facing our left.

Swift Bull from the Ten Swift Bulls

late 1200s–early 1300s

Japan, Kamakura period (1185–1333)

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