Orchids and Rock with Calligraphy / Ikeno Gyokuran
About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 2006/2.9
- Title
- Orchids and Rock with Calligraphy
- Artist
- Ikeno Gyokuran
- Artist Nationality
- Japanese
- Artist Life Dates
- 1728-1884
- Medium and Support
- ink on silk
- Object Creation Date
- 1750-1784
- Object Creation Place
- Asia (continent)
- Japan (nation)
- Creation Place 1
- Asia (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- Japan (nation)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Ellen and Richard Laing
- Century
- 18th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Painting
- Primary Object Type
- hanging scroll
- Secondary Object Classification
- Painting
- Secondary Object Type
- landscape
- Physical Description
- Hanging scroll with calligraphy and landscape imagery. Three lines of calligraphy adorn the upper left side while opposite is imagery of orchids, grass and a rock.
- Subject Matter
- Gyokuran (her artist name) or Tokuyama Machi (1727/28-1784) was born to educated mother, who was the owner of a teahouse and was known for her skilled poetry composition. While she was young, Gyokuran studied painting under the artist Yanagisawa Kien (1706-1758). Kien also taught Gyokuran’s future husband, Ike Taiga (1723-1776), the most well-known Japanese literati painter. After the marriage, Gyokuran continued her studies under the guidance of her husband, who rose to prominence for his unparalleled brushwork among the contemporary community of painters and scholars. Gyokuran was a skilled poet and painter in the Nanga or Southern Painting school, a group of Synophile Japanese painters who took subject matters and painting styles from Chinese literati masters.
- This work alludes to the beloved theme of the “Four Gentlemen,” which consisted of bamboo, orchids, plumbs and chrysanthemums or pines. A gentleman should be strong like bamboo, gentle like the orchid, brave like the early blooming plumb, steadfast like the chrysanthemum and long-lived, like the pine. These plants are lauded as the physical embodiment of an ideal scholarly gentleman.
- Primary Keywords
- calligraphy
- hanging scroll
- landscapes (representations)
- literati
- orchids
- painting
- rocks
- Secondary Keywords
- asian
- buildings and the land
- chinese
- chinese painting styles
- chinese styles
- chinese styles and periods
- descriptors
- east asian
- flowers (plants)
- forms
- genres
- herbaceous plants
- image-making processes and techniques
- inorganic material
- landscapes (environments)
- making art
- materials
- materials by composition
- natural landscapes
- objects we use
- people and culture
- plants
- processes and techniques
- processes and techniques by specific type
- settlements and landscapes
- styles and periods
- styles and periods by region
- vegetation and vegetation components
- vegetation components
- visual works
- visual works by subject type
- 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
- Record
- 2006/2.9
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2006-sl-2.9/2006_2_9.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Cite this Item
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- Full citation
-
"Orchids and Rock with Calligraphy; Ikeno Gyokuran." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-2006-sl-2.9/2006_2_9.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 23, 2024.
