Zen eccentric contemplating a fish / Kanô Tsunenobu / Attributed to
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About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1962/1.105
- Title
- Zen eccentric contemplating a fish
- Artist
- Kanô Tsunenobu
- Artist Nationality
- Japanese
- Artist Life Dates
- (active 1636 - 1713)
- Medium and Support
- hanging scroll, ink on paper
- Object Creation Date
- mid 17th century - early 18th century
- Object Creation Place
- Asia (continent)
- Japan (nation)
- Creation Place 1
- Asia (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- Japan (nation)
- Credit Line
- Museum Purchase
- Style/Group/Movement
- Kano School, Buddhist, Zen
- Inscription
- Signed at lower right: Tsunenobu hitsu; Seal at lower right.
- Dimensions
- 79.1 cm x 24 cm (31 1/8 in. x 9 7/16 in.)
- Century
- 17th-18th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Painting
- Primary Object Type
- hanging scroll
- Secondary Object Classification
- Painting
- Secondary Object Type
- figure painting
- Physical Description
- A shabbily dressed figure holds out at arm’s length a small fish. He is completely focused on his catch, and his mouth almost seems to drool. The face, hands, and feet are sketched in a deliberately simplistic way, while the costume is drawn with only a few swift slashes of the brush, and the strokes bleed into each other.
- Subject Matter
- Among the new categories of imagery introduced to East Asian art by Zen is that of the “eccentric.” A Zen eccentric defies the restrictions of the human body or the basic norms of Buddhist behavior, and in so doing demands that we question our ready assumptions about logic and reality. Artists reveled in the chance to paint eccentrics, and these works are often full of visual wit and humor.
- From the traditional Buddhist standpoint, the subject is eccentric because he is violating a taboo against the consumption of flesh. The Zen view is that distinctions between ostensible opposites—vegetable, non-vegetable—are illusory.
- Secondary Keywords
- animals and creatures
- associated concepts
- buddhism
- chinese buddhism
- coating (material)
- coating by form
- descriptors
- japanese buddhism
- materials
- materials by function
- objects we use
- paintings
- paintings by form
- people and culture
- religions
- religions and religious concepts
- scroll paintings
- visual works
- visual works by medium or technique
- 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
- 867 x 2903
- File Size
- 335 KB
- Record
- 1962/1.105
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1962-sl-1.105/1962_1_105.jpg
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Related Links
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- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1962-SL-1.105:1962_1_105.JPG
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- Full citation
-
"Zen eccentric contemplating a fish; Kanô Tsunenobu; Attributed to." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1962-sl-1.105/1962_1_105.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 19, 2024.
