Eight Views of the Xiao-Xiang Region (Shōshō Hakkei) Artist, attributed to: Kanō Motonobu (Japanese, 1476–1559)

first half 16th century

Asian Art

The Eight Views of the Xiao-Xiang Region was a well-established subject imported from China long before the artist created this version. Traditionally, depictions of Chinese river scenes were rendered as a series of eight separate paintings. For this painting, the artist blended the eight views from different seasons and times of day into the same painting, creating a new Japanese style. This harmonious blending is characteristic of Japanese art; unlike Chinese paintings that emphasize the integrity of the individual scene, Japanese scrolls often evoke the Zen idea of multiplicity distilled in a single work. Scrolls like this one would have been admired at places such as temples and wabi tea ceremonies.

Medium

Hanging scroll: ink on paper; with ivory rollers

Dimensions

without mounting: 17 15/16 × 28 15/16 in. (45.5 × 73.5 cm)
with mounting: 56 11/16 × 34 9/16 in. (144 × 87.8 cm)
with rollers: 36 7/8 in. (93.7 cm)

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913, Fund

Accession Number

2001.56.1

Geography
Culture
Period

Muromachi period (1336–1573)

Classification
Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance

Provenance

Suzanne Mitchell Asian Fine Arts, New York; purchased in 2001 by the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.
Bibliography
  • Sadako Ohki and Takeshi Watanabe, Tea Culture of Japan (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2009), 86, no. 20, ill
  • Sadako Ohki, "What Makes Japanese Painting Japanese," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2007), 72–74, 79–81, fig. 4, 5
  • Sadako Ohki, "Japanese Art at Yale," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2007), 41
Object copyright
Additional information

Object/Work type

landscapes (representations)

Subject

mountains

Inscriptions

伝狩野元信 湘瀟八景 紙本墨画掛幅 室町時代

Signed

No signature but a Motonobu seal in urn shape on the right.

Technical metadata and APIs

IIIF

Open in Mirador

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