Collection Online as of May 30, 2023

Heron on a Willow Branch

late 1700s

Maruyama Ōkyo 丸山応挙

(Japanese, 1733–1795)

Japan, Edo period

(1615-1868)

Two-panel folding screen; ink, color, lacquer, and gold on silk

Image: 69.4 x 185 cm (27 5/16 x 72 13/16 in.)

Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry 1997.108

Location

not on view

Description

Okyo was the most influential painter and teacher of his time in Kyoto. His mastery of brush and ink found expression in a variety of Chinese and Japanese subjects, painting styles, and formats. This depiction of a heron on a willow branch is done in a classical Japanese painting (yamato-e) style, utilizing flat areas of colorful pigments set against an expansive background with little or no spatial depth.

Provenance

?–1997

Severance A. [1895–1985] and Greta [Marguerite Steckerl] Millikin [1903–1989], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1997–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Toyomune Minamoto 源豊宗, and Hiroyuki Kano 狩野博幸. Maruyama Ōkyo gashū 円山應擧画集. Kyōto-shi: Kyōto Shinbunsha, 1999. cat. no. 15, p. 31

Cunningham, Michael R. Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: pp. 54-55. Cat. no. 24

Koyama-Richard, Brigitte. Animaux Dans La Peinture Japonaise. Lyon: Nouvelles éditions Scala, 2020. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 208–209

Exhibition history

The Fragrance of Ink: Chinese and Japanese Paintings from the Collection of Mrs. A. Dean Perry. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 19-August 3, 1997).

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 121). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 12-July 13, 2004).

Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 15-September 16, 2001).