Orchids Room / Unge (Taigan)
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About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1968/2.25
- Title
- Orchids Room
- Artist
- Unge (Taigan)
- Artist Nationality
- Japanese
- Artist Life Dates
- 1773-1850
- Medium and Support
- handscroll, ink on paper
- Object Creation Date
- 1823
- Object Creation Place
- Asia (continent)
- Japan (nation)
- Creation Place 1
- Asia (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- Japan (nation)
- Style/Group/Movement
- literati
- Inscription
- Title calligraphy by Shinozaki Shôchiku (1781–1851); painting inscribed and dated by the artist; colophons by six contemporary scholars
- Dimensions
- 27.9 cm x 670.6 cm (11 in. x 264 in.)
- Century
- 19th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Painting
- Primary Object Type
- hand scroll
- Secondary Object Classification
- Painting
- Secondary Object Type
- bird and flower
- Physical Description
- Horizontally oriented. Begins with two large characters then a series of folliage imagery proceeded by calligraphy. Ink on paper, hand scroll.
- Subject Matter
- Unge was a native of Kumamoto in Ky?sh?, the westernmost of the Japanese islands. Born into a family of Buddhist priests, he was sent to Kyoto to study as a young man. He settled into a comfortable life as a monk scholar, and became close friends with many of the leading literati painters trained in the Chinese style as well as a highly skilled calligrapher of his day. Those friendships are documented in this important handscroll. Unge painted five clusters of orchids in this scroll, only one of which is visible in this short section. Shinozaki Sh?chiku, a well-known Confucian scholar and calligrapher brushed the title sheet that opens the scroll, while six other artists added comments at the end. Text and image are inextricably woven together, recording stimulus and response as an ongoing exchange between friends.
- The materiality of the handscroll is intricately tied to its intended use. For example, the handscroll is meant to be unrolled and then rerolled slowly from right to left. This way of reading the handscroll gives the author(s) great control over how the intended viewer or viewers are presented with the art and calligraphy. Naturally, this authorial control has a considerable impact on the way in which it is read and appreciated. Additionally, since the work is executed on paper rather than silk, this suggests a more humble origin. This is further supported by the haphazard sizes of individual sheets of paper that are glued together. A more official or imperial handscroll would have uniform pieces of silk, which provides important clues to the provenance of pieces such as this one.
- Primary Keywords
- bamboo
- birds
- calligraphy
- grass (plant material)
- handscroll
- handscrolls
- japan (nation)
- orchids
- painting
- rocks
- Secondary Keywords
- animals
- asia (continent)
- asian
- buildings and the land
- descriptors
- flowers (plants)
- forms
- geographic and political locations
- herbaceous plants
- image-making processes and techniques
- inorganic material
- landscapes (environments)
- making art
- materials
- materials by composition
- materials by origin
- natural landscapes
- objects we use
- paintings
- paintings by form
- plant material
- plants
- processes and techniques
- processes and techniques by specific type
- scroll paintings
- settlements and landscapes
- the natural world
- vegetation and vegetation components
- vegetation components
- visual works
- visual works by medium or technique
- woody plants
- writing (processes)
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 14853 x 629
- File Size
- 1 MB
- Record
- 1968/2.25
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1968-sl-2.25/1968_2.25all.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
Portfolios
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1968-SL-2.25:1968_2.25ALL.JPG
Cite this Item
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- Full citation
-
"Orchids Room; Unge (Taigan)." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1968-sl-2.25/1968_2.25all.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 19, 2024.